Okay. I'm Out.

Parenting is hard. It is wonderful, and I would trade it for nothing. But it is not easy. Most days, my children are a constant reminder that I am loved by a Creator who loved me enough bless me with Family. Occasionally, they remind me that Man is a fallen creature.

It is on those occasions that they also remind me that, as a fallen man, I am woefully unprepared to be responsible for these lives. It's a humbling experience in many ways. See, right up until I had kids, people would talk about how patient I was. Slow to anger. Calm. So, needless to say, when I lose my patience with my kids, it is as much a wake-up call to myself as it is to them. Probably more so, actually.

A wake-up call because that, too, is a reminder of my fallen-ness. A reminder that, as long as I am human, I will have an end to my stores of grace. Fortunately, My wife and I aren't in this on our own. What these moments really are, are a reminder that, by ourselves, we haven't the strength necessary to deal with these larger family issues. These moments, as trying as they are, are a blessing, because they remind us to lean on God.

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ 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 12:7b-10)

There are moments in life that show you where your strength truly lies. It is in these moments where you find your measure: do they cause you to flee, or do they drive you to your knees? 

Praise God that, when our stores of strength are tapped out, He has an everlasting pool, just waiting for the cries of the humbled.