Yesterday was intense. ?When you have three little ones, at least a quarter of the days I?m fairly certain I may not survive. ?I?m not complaining, this season is just hard.
C was teething badly and running a fever and Bubba was a hot mess because we had stayed out too late the previous night. ?He?s been going through the terrible twos and the tantrums have been a little crazy. ?(I would probably be losing my mind, but I distinctly remember Jackson being a Tasmanian Devil from about 2.5-3.5 and then one day we woke up and had a ?normal? child! Ha)!
There was a whole bunch of disciplining to get O to stay in his bed for nap time and at one point I laid down next to him and acted like I was sleeping (I could have!). ?I was thankful for this moment because at this point he was finally STILL and QUIET. ?I placed my hand on his chest and started to pray.
Oh motherhood, you have torn me up. ?I know that people will say that your children should not ?rule? you, but when you are in the stage of little ones- they do! ?Not that they tell me what to do or that I let them get away with things- but they set the tone for the day. ?If you have a sick child or a disobedient child, you can?t just send them to their room or bed and move on with your day. ?It is all hands on deck- and those two hands belong to Mommy.
It?s easy for me to cling to my own experience or the trusted advice of friends, but what I really need to cling to is the cross. ?It?s no coincidence that praying over Olen lowered my blood pressure and focused my eyes away from the insanity of the day and on the beautiful surrender that motherhood requires. ?I don?t serve Jesus so he will give to me the things that I want, but I do want His wisdom and I do desire to be more like him. ?Asking my Lord for how to deal with these tantrums draws me closer to Him.
Lastly, how more effective would we be as friends/grandparents/spouses if we added prayer to the equation more? I?m thankful for a family member that will stop what she is doing and pray with me when I call asking for advice. ?I don?t need the advice, I need the prayer! ??I think about times I have taken comments/advice from friends or family on our parenting…and while they may have been said out of a heart of love, what would a heart of prayer do to change things (or maybe it would change some of us that think we know it all–oh now that WOULD be intense). 🙂
How do you deal with tantrums? ?I have prayed directly with Jackson when one of us is upset with the other, but Olen seems a little young for that. ?Do you find that people are quick to offer advice but slow to offer prayer? ?How do we counter this?