As I sit on our back patio listening to the birds sing, watching Cohen play quietly in his sandbox and savoring this cool Spring morning, I am compelled to write. I love watching his imagination grow and his personality come to life. There is no question he is ALL boy! One minute he's calmly sifting sand and the next he's banging his truck against a bucket. We have approached the age where before we had kids I would look at other toddler boys and say, "Lord, I don't think I could handle that." I remember seeing tantrums in a store, screeching at a restaurant, or hearing a defiant "no" from someone's child and assuming the parents weren't disciplining enough. But, now as a mother of an energetic two-year-old boy with growing independence, I realize some of that behavior is innate rather than lack of good parenting. No, I'm NOT the perfect parent, and yes, good parenting can reduce tantrums and teach respect, but there are some things toddlers are going to do. It's funny how your perspective changes once you have kids. I now find myself grinning with empathy at the mom carrying her screaming toddler out of a store because that was me just last week at Barnes & Noble. God has a funny way of giving us what we think we can't handle so he can show off his strength and power in our weakness. He has a unique way of humbling each of us and for me it is often through my child. I pray I receive those lessons and grow from them instead of shifting the blame.
I am learning to not be ashamed of my weaknesses as a mom but to boast in them. "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." - 2 Corinthians 12:9
