Friday, February 26, 2010

A Parenting Inspiration

I just recently read the Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. What a Sad and Yet inspiring book. If you haven't read it I promise not to give away the endings or any unknowns... I just want to share with you one inspiring thought... (with the understanding that the characters are fictional)

The book is descirbed on the back cover as such... "An unforgettable story of love in all its myriad forms- First love, Love between parents and children."

Now when I first picked this book up I was in it for the Romance, the "first love" part of the book. However by the end I was inspired by the love of a parent for his child... The kind of parent I want to be to my two beautiful children.

The Father shares with his daughter his favorite verse in the Bible and this is how it reads...
"It's Galatians 5:22,' he said, pressing the Bible flat in his lap. He cleared his throat before he started. 'But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy , peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.'
"She watched him as he read the verse, remembering how she'd acted and she'd first arrived and how he'd responded to her anger. She remembered the times he'd refused to argue with her mom, even when she'd tried to provoke him. She'd seen that as weakness and often wished her father were different. But all at once, she new she'd been wrong about everything.
"Her dad, she saw now, had never been acting alone. The Holy Spirit had been controlling his life all along."

This is how I want my children to see me... Filled with the Holy Spirit. Seeing in me love, joy, peace, PATIENCE.... I find that with my preschool age children these qualities are not always overflowing within me and I daily have to remind myself to pray and breath so that the Holy Spirit can shine through especially in those moments where what I really want to do is scream and pull my hair out.

How could anyone feel that way when you see this picture of my two precious cuties
Trust Me they have their moments... (Sadie has lotion all over her forehead)