I got my feelings hurt really badly a few weeks ago. I was hurt badly enough that I felt paralyzed with grief and emotion. I didnโt want to lash out and hurt the person back and I didnโt want to run away, either of which I wouldโve considered pretty normal reactions. But, you see, the person who hurt me was my own child. So lashing out and running away werenโt options. I had to figure out how to parent in the moment of grief.ย ย
Usually, as you can imagine whether youโre a parent or not, hurt feelings arenโt something I acknowledge with my children. Of course, it hurts me to see them hurting or angry or making poor decisions. But itโs not my job to consider or advertise my own hurt โ itโs my job to teach and guide them. This time, though, the action taken by my child was such that I decided it was right to acknowledge my hurt. It was right to tell her how she had hurt me so that she could understand that her rash actions had consequences to the ones she loves.ย ย
Those were some of the hardest few days of my life so far as a parent. Relaying my pain just enough for her to see it then reeling it back in so that I could determine how to present the lesson. Lots of prayers went up during this time. At one point, I remember telling God I felt clueless. I had no idea how to act or how to present. Itโs hard enough anytime to separate what is the rational choice for your child versus what is your own emotional reaction. Throw in this time the fact that I was intentionally letting her see my emotional reaction and it was even harder separating where to draw the line โ what part of the emotional reaction was part of the rational choice and what part of it was just giving in to the inner ego.ย
During this particular prayer time, I heard Godโs gentle voice chiding me. He pointed out that my direction during this moment wouldnโt have been so difficult for me if I had practiced more. I realized that all of Godโs children deserve the same kind of self-denial from me as my girls do. Iโve been teaching my Sunday School class Godโs greatest 2 commandments. Of course, the first is to love Him with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength. The second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Not just my children but all of Godโs children.ย
Iโve been trying. Itโs hard and my inner toddler kicks and screams. But Iโm learning thereโs beauty in it. I tell my Sunday School class that God gives us these rules in life so that we will get more from life; the rules are there to help us. I see that exemplified in this latest lesson from God. Since Iโve been trying to open up and love everyone in the way that I love my children, my eyes have been opened to how many people in my life are so easy to love. Iโm blessed in absolutely every area of my life and Iโm more aware of these blessings than ever before.ย
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ. ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ณ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ดโ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ, ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ.ย
โTeacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?โ Jesus replied: โโLove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.โ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: โLove your neighbor as yourself.โ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.โ โ Matthew 22:36-40