Sometimes I feel like a bird, a
parrot to be specific. In order to keep all my people moving in the right
direction, I repeat myself. I understand that this is a flaw in my own
character, and if I were truly good at what I do, all my little people would
obediently stay on task without me repeating every instruction and command.
Either I have not obtained that level of respect yet, or all of my children
struggle with sporadic deafness. Whichever is the case, I repeat myself. (Did I
mention that?)
One day I looked at my teenage
first-born and it appeared he was not doing what he was supposed to be doing,
so I began to repeat myself.
“Mom, don’t repeat yourself!”
Ethan said. “If you repeat yourself then I am not obeying you. If I am not
obeying you, then I am displeasing the Lord,” he continued. “If I am
displeasing the Lord then the world loves me, if the world loves me, then I am
not a follower of Christ. If I am not a follower of Christ, I am an enemy of
God.” He took a breath then finished.
“Mom, I don’t want to be an enemy
of God, so PLEASE don’t repeat yourself.”
Needless to say, I have stopped
repeating myself, so that he is not an enemy of God. (And they wonder why I walk around the house mumbling to
myself!) Who knew that the simple act of repeating oneself could lead to such
destruction? KIDS!!
(Taken from Live, Love, Laugh and Laundry? by Terri Bonin)
Challenge: Have you trained your children to obey your voice the first
time? Do you in turn obey and hear the Lord's voice in your life as an example to your kids?
