You think you've got it tough...

My mom used to always say, when things weren't going my way, there's always someone who's got it worse. Just open your eyes, and look around. Quit looking in the mirror, start looking out.

She was right. I sometimes find myself a little overwhelmed with motherhood, the challenges that come with an all male household, save myself, and the inevitable catastrophe that comes just about the time you've got them loaded in the car. But I know in my heart that persistence can be one of my strengths. I think it is patience and longsuffering, makrothumia & ... that other greek word I can't remember that encourage me from Colossians 1 to keep going. 'Just keep swimming', as Dory says ('Finding Nemo'). I just wish sometimes I had her short-term memory, to help me, so I could keep no record of wrongs (I Corinthians 13).

I had a great reminder reading MckMama's blog. She's written a blog with a word in the title I'm as opposed to as she is. But there are those days, where it's just what it is. She's under the gun, with real health issues. But if you read the post that tells how she became MckMama, you'll see she's dealing with a deck of cards that allows for a few days of listing the 'done-me-wrongs'.

She is dealing with 4 children, one of which has a severe health issue, diagnosed in the womb.

I looked outside my window, past the mirror and I found that cyber-friend who needed a prayer. Check out her story, and her interesting life.

Back to real-time. Using words that are appropriate to the feeling of the situation, but not appropriate to say is a difficult call. It's individual. I'm tired of hearing my child say 'butt', as well as 'but' following every apology, but it's not going away anytime soon.

So how should I react? Our ladies Bible class on Wednesday's has been using a great book with very practical discussion based on successful parents techniques. So I'm using Dobson's facts (boy's will grow up, quite literally, over their mother's dead body), Rosemond's advice (bringing down the boom/nipping it in the bud) and Dr. Paul Faulkner's recommendations (warm it up and keep it fun) to keep our home full of love, even when I want to say words or express feelings that just don't fit into any of the wisdom in those books (or the book.)

BTW, the book from Wednesday night... Raising Faithful Kids in a Fast-Paced World, by Dr. Paul Faulkner.

ps. I'm not a big Miley Cyrus fan, but must say she's got a song out to inspire, and captures the feeling I have on many a day. 'The Climb' . This link is on Youtube, so as always, be careful when clicking on links. Sometimes you may inadvertently hit the wrong one, and be exposed to explicit or inappropriate material. The Official Music Video Version is nice.

pss. My lack of enthusiasm for Miley hasn't been about her. I'm just not into pre-mature entry into adulthood. The nature of her shows are often geared to little girls who need to slow it down, not speed it up. She's a prodigy of a country singer, who is a part of the marketing machine. I like ole-Billy Ray, but I just am not crazy about seeing little girls exploited/marketed or encouraged to do this, in any way. Just my humble opinion.