Self-Control

How funny it is to hear S use the word self-control. He learned it just today.

Today between tantrums.

Now that I've had a chance to really stop and think about our day, I'm realizing it was really not a day filled with several tantrums here and there. It was in fact, a day long tantrum. You read that right, a day long temper tantrum. I never dreamed I would see behavior such as this from one of my children.

And yes, we did have a few moments of respite interspersed, but the rest of our day was full of kicking, screaming and gnashing of teeth. From both me and S!

This little one has my number. I can literally see the hairs on my head turning white.

On the rare occasion that I can separate myself from the frustration of the situation, I can actually empathize with little S. I can almost feel the magnitude of the emotions that are in his tiny body. And for all of the times that he is upset and exasperated, there are a greater number of times that he is overcome with exhilaration and joy. You take the good with the bad, right?

I don't know about you, but I take great comfort in the fact that during those moments in which I lose self-control, God is looking at me with those same loving eyes seeing my good with the bad, too.

The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty enough to save you. He will take great delight in you. The quietness of his love will calm you down. He will sing with joy because of you.
Zephaniah 3:17

I love knowing that God looks at me just as I look at my children. I may not throw the kind of tantrums that I saw today, but I certainly fall short in my own ways, too. My temper runs short, my words can sting, my tone can be less than lovely. Even through all of that, He is looking at one of His own children and is parenting me just as I parent my children.

What a difference this thought has made.