If you had been at my local McDonald’s a couple weeks ago, you would have encountered two crazy children running out of the children’s area and through the store, giggling and shrieking. A frazzled looking mother followed behind said crazy children, holding a newborn and trying not to make a scene while attempting to corral her children.
You would’ve watched while she caught her 2-year-old (just as she reached the door for the parking lot, phew!) and then holding her with her free hand she went for her four year old who was making a dash for the bathrooms.
Finally you would have seen the frazzled looking mom (with a very stern look on her face) leave the store with newborn and diaper bag on one arm and her other two children’s hands somehow both gripped with her one free hand.
If you had seen all of that, what would you have thought? I bet it would be something along the lines of that lady needs to get control of her kids! Or clearly those kids are never disciplined! Or maybe even what is she doing having another baby when her first two are clearly more than she can handle?
Well, let me tell you, pre-kid me would probably have been thinking at least one of those things. But a couple weeks ago at McDonald’s I sure wasn’t. Why?
Because that frazzled mom was me. And those crazy kids are mine.
Parenting is humbling. It really really is.
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I had been all geared up for a good outing, my second ever being alone with all three kids. I’d made sure to talk to my older two about good behavior before we left, and then one more time once we’d arrived. That clearly helped. Ha!
I felt so helpless and humiliated as people turned to look at me while I hurried after my crazy kids. I knew what they were thinking because I knew what I would have thought back in the day. I guess I’m eating crow now, ha!
Parenting. Is. Humbling.
I cried as I drove home from McDonald’s. I cried again later at home (to the shock of the kids who never see me cry.) I told Pablo that I’m not going to leave home alone with all the kids for the next few years haha.
I saw a meme awhile back that shows a mom talking to her kid saying “You’re making it difficult for me to be the parent I always imagined I would be!” I laughed out loud when I read that because oh man, it’s so true. I think we all have a perfect little picture of how we’ll be and how our kids will be and boy does that little dream get shattered quickly!
But that’s okay (even though it doesn’t always feel like it!)
Because parenting is humbling for a reason. God wants to use it in my life to make me better.
He wants to show me that I’m not in control – and boy do I hate that feeling!
He wants to show me that I’m proud and that I really want to look good in front of other people.
He wants to show me that I’m more short-tempered than I would have believed before having kids.
He wants to show me that I need Him. I NEED HIM! Because there’s no way I can do this parenting thing well without God’s help.
In Paul David Tripp’s book Parenting he says:
God is working on you through your children, so that he can work through you for your children.
The question I need to ask myself is this: Am I willing to let God work on me and parent me as I parent my children?
Yes, parenting is humbling (and hard!) But I’m thankful for what God is teaching me through it.
Oh, and if you’re not a parent (or even if you are), don’t judge the mom with the crazy kids, because someday you’ll probably eat your words! 😉
