Be Kind

Love is patient; love is KIND. I don’t promote kindness in my home nearly enough. Sure, I repeatedly say, “Be nice.” But being kind is biblical, and I have only lately deliberately put it that way to my kids. Recently, a brawl resulted from an otherwise civil game of backyard baseball. Feelings were hurt and unfortunately, so were bodies, as this brouhaha was straight from a PPV UFC championship fight! Ugh!  Well, after my initial yelling to restore order, I called a meeting. There in the bedroom, I read them a devotion on kindness and prayed a prayer with them. I felt peace and closure, and while they still lost their devices for a time, the punishment was accompanied by a real reason from God’s word. That lesson will impact them in the future even more that the loss of privileges. I am thankful for the Bible, my resource book and my peace. God instruction in Deuteronomy 6 illustrates the importance of obeying His commandments and then teaching them to our children…

 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it,  that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.  Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Praying for a peaceful day, but looking forward to more teaching moments. Children are a blessing from the Lord, and boy would I be lost without them!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I pray for parents today who are struggling with disciplining their children. May they first turn to You and Your Word and gain peace as they correct and mold them to grow in love for each other and for You. This I pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.  Hebrews 12:11
I've attached a little parenting humor in the Tim Hawkin's video below...love him! :)