Parenting is… You could fill in the blank with so many words. Fulfilling, fun, expensive, draining, exciting, and the list goes on and on. But as I sit here typing, the word I filled in was hard. Yes, on today and many days, that’s my go-to word for parenting, is that it’s hard.

It doesn’t take away from the fact that I believe all of the other words describe parenting wonderfully for me, but hard never leaves the list and usually maintains a seat in the top three. From the moment I became pregnant with each of my children, parenting was hard. So, as a part of life-lessons, I’ve raised my children to accept that while many things in life are hard, most of them are doable, inclusive of godly behavior. Did you notice it? I said ‘godly,’ not ‘good.’

When I think of the phrase, ‘be on your best behavior,’ I sometimes see it as we push that as a momentary requirement. But when you look through the lens of ‘godly’ behavior, it becomes serious and something about the change let’s you know that it’s not about me watching you, but that you need to know God is always watching. On today, it’s impressed upon me just how much it applies to me as the parent.

I often tell my children, especially when they’re misbehaving or done something I just can’t believe they’d do or so, that ‘this is not how I raised you.’ While that’s a true sentiment, the Holy Spirit reminded me this morning that it’s just as important that I remember my behavior impacts theirs. When I ‘act up’ or make a horrible decision, God could very well be thinking, ‘this is not how I raised you.’ My children certainly see some of those actions or hear some of those words and they, too, could be thinking, ‘I’m surprised’ or ‘I’m so disappointed in Mom’ over that.

I offer you the encouragement I received on today: focus on being a better example of a child of God than trying so hard to be a perfect parental example for your children. The former will set the stage for the latter. It won’t be perfect, but it’ll be pleasing in the sight of God. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it’s doable.

READ: Hosea 11

LISTEN: Hillsong Worship “Broken Vessels” https://youtu.be/fiyYoe678yI