What God showed me this morning

I usually walk with the kids to school in the morning and once I drop them off at school, I keep going and get some more exercise before going home to start the day. It was quite nice out this morning which I was thankful for but at the same time I was talking to God and an issue from the night before came to mind and God had some thoughts to share with me.

The issue at hand is about lying. Kids and lying seem to be a recurring theme in our home. So that is what went down last night. I had discovered that one of our kids had lied about doing something they had not done.

...Now, before I go on, I want you to know that I have specifically asked God to reveal to me when the kids are lying so that we can deal with it now while they are young and they don't end up in jail as adults.

With that said, I confronted said child and looked him/her in the face and and said "I want you to tell me the truth. The truth is important, so I want the truth. Did you do ...?" The child having gone through this routine before said "No" which was the truth- phew, at least they didn't keep up it up, that can get quite painful. So now for the hard part- discipline. They don't realize (and won't until they are parents) how hard it is on us to have to discipline them. Needless to say, I was very upset. So upset that I was almost to the point of not being upset. I don't know if you have been there, but I just wanted to throw in the towel and say "I give up, be a liar and see how far that gets ya"

This is not what was originally running through my mind as I was talking to God. I really just wanted to thank Him for the weather and think all good thoughts, but He had a different plan. All at once, while I was pondering God's goodness, He gave me this thought.

- you know why your upset right? You are not upset because the child lied, you are upset because the child lied to you. This is more about you which is why you are SO frustrated. This lie broke the trust you had put in that child and now you have to deal with it.

Don't get me wrong, I am upset that my child lied, the point is that I was more upset about how it affected me than anything else. Kids lie and that is not surprising so while I need to be upset that they lied, I should me more concerned with their spiritual wellbeing and therefore handle the situation with biblically rather than frustration.

Discipline should be more about biblical correction and restoration rather than ...you frustrated me and therefore YOU WILL PAY.

I have had some time now to mull this over and I am saddened and convicted by my sin and rejoice that we have a God who loves us enough to show us our sin and restore us. There is no freedom, like the freedom from sin. We are still sinful, but Christ has already paid for it so we need to live like we are free.

To God be the glory...forever!