SAYING SORRY TO THE KIDS
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
When was the last time you said sorry to any one of your kids? How did it go? Do you remember your own parents apologizing to you back then?
For individuals who grew up with authoritative or disciplinarian parents, experiencing their mom or dad apologizing beyond the occasional accidental mishaps could be unheard of. This is because as the person in authority at home, some parents may feel that they make the best decisions and carry out the best judgments simply because they have the best interest of their children at heart.
But we all know that this could sometimes be untrue. As human beings, we parents are bound to commit mistakes that unfortunately could scar our children for life. We could even model this bad behavior on them, making them misbehave towards their peers or other people. And now we wonder why they have a hard time saying sorry to their sibling or friend whom they have hurt?
Our Heavenly Father, who is also our Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6) invites us to follow His example in dealing with the rigors of life, and in our case daily motherhood struggles. In Matthew 11:28-30, He invites us to unburden all our earthly worries and follow His example of gentleness and humility.
The Lord knows that when we are anxious about provisions, finances, parenting schedules, illnesses, and failing relationships we tend to clam up and make bad parenting decisions like snapping on to the children when they commit even the tiniest mistake.
Jesus tells us to come and rest in Him, by seeking His presence in our lives. He asks us to take up His yoke by abiding His commands and following His will. Our Almighty Father prods us to be gentle and humble when dealing with others, and we can do this by following His example — He is Sovereign, He is the Lord of Lords yet He chose to humble Himself for our sake. Let us allow that to inspire us to be gentle and meek especially towards our little ones.
Regularly seeking the Lord through daily intentional quiet time, bible reading and reflection, plus bible study and weekly community worship could help us grow to become the gentle and humble parent that God wants us to be. And when we have peace in our home, we will definitely get rest for our souls.
Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to read Isaiah 54:13-17 so we could dig deeper on today’s topic.
Reflection Question: When was the last time you made a parenting mistake, and did you apologize to your child? Do you have an emotional wound inflicted to you by your parents, that until now they have not apologized for? Have you forgiven them for it?
Conversation with the Lord: My Almighty Father, thank you for giving me the best example of meekness and humility towards little ones. May You be merciful enough to make me conscious of my parenting mistakes, and give me the grace to be humble and apologize to my children for these. I desire a good life-long relationship with my children and I know that humility, and modeling such virtue to them will be one of the keys to keeping peace within our family. I also pray that you take away whatever pains inflicted by the emotional wounds that I have sustained as a child, so that I could forgive my own parents too. Amen.
Thank you for stopping by and till next post!