Messes

The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.”

Jeremiah 31:3 NASB

What a beautiful illustration painted in Jeremiah 31:3. The Lord loved us so much he has drawn us with loving kindness. He is our creator!

When I read this verse my mind pictured the Lord with a paint tray in one hand and a paint brush in the other painting a picture of me on an easel. (As I wrote this a picture of Bob Ross popped into my head haha… It is amazing what our minds can picture as we read or write. Sorry for the rabbit trail haha).

The fact we were created with love and kindness is so uplifting! Mom’s we definitely need this! Our children can definitely test our patience and bring out a scary side of us.

Monday night my husband was gone for only three hours and within those three hours my younger two made five messes. I posted the one mess as my mom fail of the week, forgetting to put the shredded cheese away. Sadly, it was actually the second time I had shredded cheese everywhere.

When I was making the plates my three year old son decided he wanted to get his own shredded cheese. Let’s just put it this way the floor was fed well that night.

Onto the other messes, my daughter who just turned two will not keep her pants or diaper on, but refuses to go potty on the toilet. The first mess she made was when I was cleaning up the shredded cheese. She went into the bathroom and peed all over their kitchen sink stool. I got her and the mess all clean. A couple hours later my son comes running yelling loudly, “mom Ariah took her diaper off and it’s poopy!!!” I jump off the couch like a ninja trying to hurry before she decides to sit somewhere. Unfortunately, I was not quick enough. Mess number four cleaned.

Now for mess number five, baby powder. I told my son to go potty before bed. My oldest had already fallen asleep. I go to check on my son and the younger two decided they needed baby powder all over them; as well as the hallway and bathroom.

An entire container of baby powder emptied in a matter of seconds. Needless to say I was livid, beyond exhausted of cleaning up messes. I wanted the children to know what they had done was wrong, but I knew I needed to control my temper from my tiredness.

As a mom one of the things we spend most of our time doing is cleaning up messes. Which can be very exhausting and frustrating. Why yes it is okay to show your children your emotions so they understand how their actions affected you, but it is also important to show them love and kindness afterwards.

Give your children twice as much love after every punishment. The Lord created our children as well as us. As parents we must follow in His footsteps and show our children forgiveness and love. It is so vital our children know no matter how mad we may be or no matter what they do we will always love them. We were made by love, not anger. Anger is a powerful emotion and can bring out a lot of negativity towards others. It is okay to show anger as a reaction to a situation, but in these times let Jeremiah 31:3 give you hope and lift you up helping you control the anger you feel.