Tongue Tied

So, this has been a very surreal few days for me. Full of some major lows, but also incredible lessons that will hopefully keep me out of the mire like this in the future. It's very difficult when someone thinks they have you figured out, and they don't like what they see. All too often, we are so quick to ascribe people motives or ideas that aren't really the case. We see what we want to see, we pick at what we think is a problem, we judge, and we break hearts in the process. I am not immune to this struggle. I have been judged. And I have judged. Double whammy. I'm not really into dramatics. I don't like petty arguments. I loathe heated discussions that are wrapped up in emotions. They never end well. They only make the problem worse. But hating these things doesn't keep me out of these situations sometimes. The other day, I found myself at the point of choosing how to respond to someone who was trying to pick a fight with me. Someone who has hurt me and the o...

I have recently come to a very freeing conclusion. One that has deepened my relationship with the most important parties in my life, namely my heavenly Father, my husband, and my children. My conclusion is simply this: My kids don't have to be perfect. Stating the obvious? Perhaps. But you wouldn't believe some of the ridiculous struggles I've had just because I had some silly notion that my kids weren't meeting certain criteria--keeping up the appearances of a model Christian family. So often, we parent not for our children, but for the people watching. We allow others' notions of acceptable behavior to dictate our standards, our methods, our values, instead of looking only to God's Word for these things. But I'm through with parenting for the masses, with the constant comparisons of my children to others, of pretending to care about things I didn't really care about just so I look acceptable to others. I'll go so far to say that not only do my kids...