A Parenting Revelation

I wouldn't consider myself a helicopter parent, but I certainly have some control issues when it comes to parenting my kiddos. Let's be honest, all teachers probably have a little bit of control freak in them. It's not that I think my kids are perfect by any stretch...I'm usually the first to ask, "What did they do now??" I suppose it's more that I expect them to be. Eeew. That felt horrible to type. Bad mommy. 

My husband is much better at this than I am. He has an easier time just letting them be kids, letting them learn the hard way, and being gracious and understanding when they do just that. Ugh...I never thought parenting would be this hard. 

The other night by little man and I went on a mommy-son date. It was so sweet and we had the best time together. It was a nice reprieve from the usual battle between us. I love that kid to death, but some days we just DO.NOT. get along.

The day after we went on our date he had a sleepover birthday. I wasn't going to let him stay the night though. I just new he wouldn't be able to handle making the right choices in that kind of scenario. He's too easily influenced by his peers and I just figured I'd save us all the trouble.

Then in church yesterday during worship God revealed something to me that was such a "duh" moment, but also such a beautiful picture of His love towards us. 

God could certainly prevent us from making poor choices if he wanted to, just like I tried to prevent my little Man from making poor choices. God doesn't do that though. He gives us His Word, the Holy Spirit, and other believers in our lives to prepare us to live a life of righteousness before Him. And when we mess up he doesn't become angry and scream and shout...hmmm, I wonder who does that. {crickets}

He's just there with arms open wide waiting to shower us in his love, slap a band-aid on our boo-boos, and comfort us through the healing. This is the same kind of love that I should be showing my little loveys. 

I was almost moved to tears as I let this special revelation just sink into my soul. This was just yesterday and I've already messed up...such is life. I thank God for His grace each and every day!

Well, now that you all know my sucky mom moment (at least one of them...there are many!) let's show some mama love in the comments below.