So Your Children Make You Want to Rip Out Your Hair?

My roommate, Erica, also works in child-care and our snapchats
consistently look like this. 

If you are a parent or your job works directly with children all day long - this is for you. Read and be encouraged that what you are doing day in and day out matters.

Working at Behaven, I've decided this must be a glimpse into the world of parenting; you literally pour your blood, sweat and tears into a child, have conversations with them about choices, give them the tools to do well and then watch them look you right in the eye and completely blow it on purpose. Utter disregard for conversations and good choices of moments ago - the next thing you know they're throwing a cup of milk at your face, running away yelling "STRANGER!" and pointing at you and screaming that they hate you and you've ruined their life. If you have kids - you know. And if you don't know yet because they are still infants and can't talk - you will.

While that is all a bit disheartening (and also startlingly similar to how Christ loves us despite our constant stupid choices even as adults), take heart! Parents, myself, and those who work with children know that you live for tiny moments of breakthrough - maybe you see them use kind word or share a toy (something you've been practicing over, and over, and over for the last three years, and usually they just choose to throw the toy at the other person, anyway), perhaps they give you a hug and say 'I love you,' maybe it's something bigger.

Life is made up of lots of little moments, not one giant piece of a child behaving well. Besides? Where are the stories in little Gracie behaving well all the time? "Oh, today Gracie ate every single one of her peas again and told me she loves everything I cook, she also made her bed, only played with one toy at a time and then put it back before getting another one, and managed to change her own diaper!" No one wants to hear about little Gracie because she's a freaking robot.

Oh, right. The encouragement! Here we go:

He [Jesus] told them another parable: 

"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the bird come and perch in its branches."

He told them still another parable: 

"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough."

You are planting seeds, you are adding the yeast to the bread. You are growing them, and, like trees, it takes a long time and a lot of elements to nurture that growth. You are equipping that little piece of hell on two legs to be able to make good choices, healthy decisions.

Your job is not to make choices for a child their whole life, but rather to guide them and teach them that they have more than one choice to make and equip them with the wisdom to choose a good one - but ultimately, your child, like you, has free will to decide in the end what they choose to do.

But be encouraged! You are planting seeds that last a lifetime - so hang in there, drink some wine, share when your kids throw poop at you or stick rocks in their ears (You: Why did you stick rocks in your ears? Child: I don't know.) and be encouraged that you are laying a foundation for your child to build on.