"God of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved."
-Psalm 80
... I'm also tired of it on my hands and arms as well.
But in a sense, that is only partially what this post is about. Really, this post is about what happens after the "shit has hit the floor." How does daddy react? How should daddy react?
Each morning I wake up and get the kids breakfast. After they've been seated, given the correct bowl/spoon/plate/fork combo (you know Lightening McQueen fork with an Aura plate...well just because) I settle in with my own breakfast and pray morning prayer from the Catholic Church's Liturgy of the Hours. If the kids haven't already finished breakfast by the time I sit down I'll usually pray it out loud and they'll even join me in some of the prayers. It's been a fun exercise for me to see. It's a small way I can get some one on one time with God and also teach my children to value prayer and a relationship with God.
Often times I can gloss over verses like the one above as warm fuzzies and move on feeling good about myself and how "God's love makes everything happy!" But as I've said on here before; the Cross wasn't a pleasant thing for Jesus, and something we're trying to teach our children is that our daily crosses aren't always going to be pleasant either. This is nothing new. We all want to be good people. But when it comes down to it... do our actions really speak what we desire? Are we good people? In one sense yes... but far too often no.
When I read that verse above I picture God taking a giant God Spot Light and shining it into my eyes. It's blinding, it hurts, and it's really... really... really annoying. It's all these things because, truthfully, I don't always like what I see. I see my good intentions... but then I also see my actions. So, in the moment, you make a resolution to be better this day and well, then life goes on.
But in a sense, that is only partially what this post is about. Really, this post is about what happens after the "shit has hit the floor." How does daddy react? How should daddy react?
Each morning I wake up and get the kids breakfast. After they've been seated, given the correct bowl/spoon/plate/fork combo (you know Lightening McQueen fork with an Aura plate...well just because) I settle in with my own breakfast and pray morning prayer from the Catholic Church's Liturgy of the Hours. If the kids haven't already finished breakfast by the time I sit down I'll usually pray it out loud and they'll even join me in some of the prayers. It's been a fun exercise for me to see. It's a small way I can get some one on one time with God and also teach my children to value prayer and a relationship with God.
Often times I can gloss over verses like the one above as warm fuzzies and move on feeling good about myself and how "God's love makes everything happy!" But as I've said on here before; the Cross wasn't a pleasant thing for Jesus, and something we're trying to teach our children is that our daily crosses aren't always going to be pleasant either. This is nothing new. We all want to be good people. But when it comes down to it... do our actions really speak what we desire? Are we good people? In one sense yes... but far too often no.
When I read that verse above I picture God taking a giant God Spot Light and shining it into my eyes. It's blinding, it hurts, and it's really... really... really annoying. It's all these things because, truthfully, I don't always like what I see. I see my good intentions... but then I also see my actions. So, in the moment, you make a resolution to be better this day and well, then life goes on.
Life goes on and occasionally you are blessed enough to realize in the moment that God is shining a giant spot light into your eyes. This happened the other day. Mary pooped on the toilet. Hooray!!!! A day later she pooped on the floor again. Ugh. Okay, let's be proactive. An hour or so passes and we eat lunch.
"Okay Mary, time to go potty."
-"I don't want to"
"Remember this morning when you pooped and peed on the floor? You don't want that to happen again do you?"
-"I don't want to."
Ugh. "Okay, well you need to stay in the kitchen and bathroom area until you do go on the toilet. Go on the toilet and you're free to wander where you like."
-"No" She walks out of the room and onto the carpet.
"Mary..."
Scream, drop to the floor, flale.
She's prone to have accidents when she gets upset... so
"Okay, into the bathroom and let's take your pants off. You can have them back when you go potty."
More flaling, more screaming, but now all on the bathroom floor. Yum.
Be logical child! Just pee and we can be done with this!
At this point yelling from both of us begins, Mary may try and run out into another room, and at an exhausting amount of trying to reason and bargain I may lose patience and there are either spanks or threats of spanks... no longer related to potty training but for her bad temper in general. It suddenly occurs to me that while Mary is arguing with me, she is also staring at me for help. I'm her daddy. I'm the one who she comes to when she's in trouble. But now I'm also the one causing her trouble...
"I give you thanks, O Lord; though you have been angry with me, your anger has abated, and you have consoled me."
- Isaiah 12: 1
Ugh. Yes Lord. There are going to be times when there's not only poop in the panties but also on your hands and arms. (It happened again this morning). How we react to these times is the true distinction of whether or not we're honestly allowing God's Light to shine in our lives. Are we good people? Our actions do speak louder than our words at times. However, our actions usually speak our thoughts.
I've got good kids. Really good kids. I unfortunately lose sight of that sometimes. Its easy to in all the poop and slammed doors. But, you know what? Bob doesn't slam doors as often. He also hardly ever pees himself anymore. Mary has always been my darling, but now she's entering into her terrible 3's (terrible 2s are a myth I'm convinced). It's going to be okay and I need to remember that.
I get to do cool things with Bob now. We play board games (future post to look forward to!), he likes to fish and camp, he LOVES sports, and we even do fun trips around town together. Three doesn't last forever. There is a popular blog going around right now about parent's needing to hold out until age ten. Apparently age ten is the magic number when all becomes right in the world. Five years is a long time to hold my breath. In some sense I hope she's wrong, I hope the hard times end sooner than that. But on the other side, I'm not naive enough to think there won't ever not be hard times. They'll always be there. What makes them unbearable or not is the attitude I face them with.
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"May your hand be on the man you have chosen, the man you have given your strength."
- Psalm 80
The precious thing is; God has chosen all of us. Each of us has a mission and purpose to complete in our life. All are usually more complex than we give ourselves credit for. I like to think of God's hand on my shoulder like a gentle father urging me on. But let's be honest, sometimes that hand is a firm shake to the shoulders telling us to wake up and smarten up.
I find morning prayer like that. A gentle, and sometime firm, reminder that I'm called to more. Not simply in the grand scheme of things but more importantly in the small day to day diapers and tantrums. If by my conversations with God each day, strengthened by the Eucharist at Mass, I can take away some practical life lesson then I feel like I'm becoming a better person.
"The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking, but of justice, peace, and the joy that is given by the Holy Spirit."
- Romans 14:17
"and the joy that is given by the Holy Spirit." Are you a good person? This I feel is the key to evangelization and simply put: to a happier life. We can look at it this way:
"Turn our thoughts to what is holy and may we ever live in the light of your love."
- Prayer at end of morning prayer Volume 3 p. 926
Prayer puts things into perspective
God's Word fills our head with positive thoughts
Positive thoughts produce positive actions.
Does prayer mean we'll be perfect? Of course not? Will the bad days still come? Yup. Will we fail in our attempts (and lack of) to be a good person? Yes. But that doesn't mean we give up and that doesn't mean we don't continue to strive.
...Now if I could only remember that the next time I'm throwing another pair of underwear away!
Thanks for reading and listening,
God bless,
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