On Saturday I attended a Mother Child Tea. I hadn’t planned
to attend as I had spent the previous weekend with all my children and
grandchildren attending E #2’s graduation from grad school. None of them live in town so I had volunteered to do
nursery duty for any mom’s who attended the tea with babies. Only one three
month old baby was there and he did great as there were plenty of arms to hold
him. So I attended the tea. I was blessed by the four speakers.
A grade school age
girl and a teenager both gave glowing tributes to their moms. A twenty
something young mom pregnant with her second baby described motherhood as being
pierced by love so strong that one hardly knows how to deal with it. She has
been on a journey of faith this past year since her first was stillborn. She
says God has taught her so much and has sustained her and she looks forward in
hope. The final speaker probably a grandmother had some words to say about a
mother needing to give grace to her children. She emphasized other qualities as
well, teaching and disciplining but mostly the giving of grace.
As an illustration of how God had guided her message
preparation she said she typed out several drafts of her words. She mistyped
GRACE and it came out GRADE in the first draft. It hit her that as a mom when
she fails to give grace to her children when prompted by their behavior or
words then it is as though she is giving them a grade for their performance.
That is the opposite of grace which is unmerited favor or not getting what we
actually deserve.
It is easy to fall into a trap of grading our children.
Using negative words or withholding affection when they displease us. So much
of our world is performance based, making the grade, out competing others,
earning our worth. God’s world is the opposite of that. We are children of God
because we love his Son. He accepts us on that basis alone. We have done nothing
to earn his love, yet He considers us worthy of dying for. That is grace.
As a mother and grandmother I desire to be one who dispenses
grace not grades. I thank the speaker for the good reminder.
Lou
That is very insightful Mom
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