The other day my daughter was practicing riding her bike. She was working on her turns and making figure eights without turning too much and falling over. I told her “Practice makes perfect!”, and she told me “No it doesn’t, Mommy! No one is perfect except God.”
How right she is!
If only practice made perfect, then maybe I could have hopes of being a perfect mother one day, but alas, it doesn’t….and I can’t. Lately, I find myself making mistake after mistake after mistake. I lose my temper, or get upset about something I shouldn’t, and I end up having to go once again and apologize to my 5 year old for getting too mad, or yelling, or not listening well enough. It’s humbling. Even more humbling when she practically interrupts me to quickly say, “it’s ok Mommy, I forgive you!”.
I am finding that the more that I acknowledge an area that God is growing me in, the more I struggle with it. Also, I and realizing that I tend to be harder on others in the areas that I myself need the most work in.
I’ve often heard saying, “When you point a finger at someone, there are 3 more fingers pointing right back at yourself”. Try it, you’ll see. No really…stop and try it. Point at something or someone. See those 3 folded fingers? They are pointing right back at YOU!
I find that SO often when I am saying something to Emily out of frustration or anger, it’s like God was saying them to ME instead. “You need to get in control.”, “You need to listen to me”, “You aren’t paying attention to what I’m saying.”, “Are you thinking of yourself or others?”, “Are you being a blessing to others right now?”.
OUCH.
So, I’ll keep practicing. Every day for the rest of my life. I’ll never be perfect, but I do hope to become more and more Christ-like. In the meantime, I surrender all to Him!
“He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.” ~ Proverbs 21:21