Worry Free Parenting

Tonight, as I was vegging out in front of the TV, something caught my attention. It is the current Rent-A-Center ad that I have seen a hundred times before. For some reason, this one certain part of it caught my attention tonight. It shows this nursery full of crying babies with a set of new parents observing from the window. As the camera pans around, you see this one peacefully sleeping baby, and on its little hat there is a "Worry Free Guarantee" sticker blazened across the front. Then you see the parents, glowing with pride, sighing in complete and utter peace. Oh, if parenting could only be so easy. Wouldn't it be lovely if God gave us a "worry free guarantee" when He places these lovely treasures into our care? I guess, in some way, He does. If we allow Him to fulfill it.

For the most part, for most of the time, I feel like I live fairly "worry free." (hmmm...maybe not...) That doesn't mean that I don't do my best to live my life in a state of good stewardship. For the most part, I feel like I trust God to help me accomplish in life those things that He has called me to accomplish. I pray often that God will give me wisdom and guidance in living my life, raising my children, etc... in the way that would accomplish what He wants accomplished. God has been with me in the past, He certainly isn't going to abandon me now.

Then there are times when I apparently forget that God is in control and I start to mentally "handle things on my own." Which, of course, is completely and totally insane. There are times where I feel like I wear myself thin with the fretting and fuming I do over issues with my kids. I have seen and can testify to God's faithfulness in the past. So why, at times, do I feel the weight of "gloom and doom" and cry out to God saying things like: "Why in the world are you letting me screw up my children???? Don't you see that I am making a mess of things? I thought you were in control!! Take over, will you!!"

I took a moment here, in the midst of writing this out, to contemplate what I was writing and what am I really trying to say. I can't help but wonder if there are two sides of worry. Worry, as defined in the American Heritage Dictionary, is "to feel uneasy about; be troubled." There are times when I feel overwhelmed with my responsibilities as a parent. When I see one of my kids being completely unreasonable, being rude, and downright obnoxious, I am easily worried that I am screwing up my kids. The thought of correcting that glaring issue is overwhelming, and I worry....I am uneasy and troubled. This leads to me being completely and totally insane.

Then I read further down the definition on worry: "to work under difficulty or hardship." Maybe this is the other side of worry. I have always had a negative feeling about worry. Doesn't the Bible say: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me." John 14:1 Worry is wrong. We should trust God. Isn't that what we were taught and what we have learned? Yet, when I ponder that definition of "to work under difficulty or hardship" I see action. Trusting in God isn't a passive event. We are still required to work....to do what God tells us to do. It may not be easy, it may be difficult and the situation may be a hardship...but we are to trust and obey......to work. Work to accomplish what God has called us to do. Do we just place the situation in God's hands and then just sit back and wait for Him to act? Hmmm. I think not.

This has been a good post for me to write out tonight. I needed it. I don't know if anyone else who reads this will understand a thing I said or if it makes any sense....but that is okay.

I'm pretty sure this one was for me.