Skip to main content

.starting out.




It is often referred to as "the wrong side of the bed" ... and the opposite would be "starting out on the right foot." I would have liked this day to start in the latter, and yet I find myself being tempted to be quick to anger at every turn. We are training our boy to stay in his bed until a certain time each morning, to ensure he gets enough sleep and we also get enough sleep. 

He doesn't like to do it though. In the course of 45 mintues, I was up out of bed 5 times this morning. The first was because he didn't want daddy to help him, but mommy. This was an hour and a half before the determined wake up time arrived. The second and third times, he just wanted to get out of bed because he just wanted to.

The fourth and fifth times, he was just shouting my name so loudly, I grew angry so quickly, my heart was beating fast before my feet hit the ground. I hurried into his room to silence his calls to keep him from waking his brother, and certainly not with a heart to care for his needs. 

So all this has me thinking about the choices I make. The fleeting moments that pass, and in those moments, there is a choice made... to give into anger and to be impatient or chose love and show kindness. I think that in those brief moments when the choice is made, my cravings for sleep and ease are having a shouting match in my head with the voice of truth that God's word is stating clearly in response.

I want so much the bedrock of the truth of God's Word to be what gives me faith to step out in kindness "on the right side of the bed" and to fight my sinful desires to be angry with my 3 year old. I want to believe with all my heart that He has given me my portion and my cup, that the day is sovereignly ordained by him, and because of that, it is for my good and there is grace for all of it! Oh to fight the wicked cravings of my heart and choose to give Glory to God by obeying his word and simply showing kindness to my child. I know I would be happier for it, I know it would satisfy my soul in a way that a few more minutes sleep never could!

Sweet temptations that they are... God is after my heart in all of it, and I am made more aware of my desperate need of him from the very rising of the sun. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Ahh, sleep-training and big boy beds and all that comes with that territory! Don't be too hard on yourself...this part of parenting (the sleep part) IS tough! And while God WILL give you the srength you need to make it through each day, remember that your reaction is completely normal and that Tyler doesn't think you love him any less if you're a little "off." You're right...Mommy DOES need sleep in order to function!! I pray you much patience and rest in this tiring season. Hoping that Tyler's internal clock adjusts quickly to the time which you would have him wake up.

I've heard of people using digital clocks to train their kids ("You can come out of your room when your clock says 7:00") or nightlights set on timers..."When the light goes off it's daytime and you can wake up," for instance.

Hugs!
Jenny (Peters) :)
February 27, 2009 at 9:18 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Diagnosis and Grace

Friends- "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" Psalm46:1 Much has happened since I last wrote only 2 short days ago. We found out much later that night a new diagnosis, that our sweet boy has leukemia . We were not completely shocked but we were certainly shaken. After I posted about what was going on at Shady Grove, and we waited a bit more for some results, and we were informed that we needed to take Jack to Children's Hospital in DC for further testing with specialists. This raised our concern level quite high as you can imagine, that even with a snow storm coming, we were needing to make this trip. I began to google the combination of things they had found in the tests done on our little boy (swollen spleen, low platelet count , swollen lymph nodes) and came up options that were NOT Lyme disease, although a few of these symptoms did also look like Lyme. As a result of the google quest, I came across some concerning outcomes, one of the most...
57 comments
Read more

.coming home.

Well, the past 24 hours have changed things again for us! The biggest update, is that we are being discharged tomorrow afternoon some time! The reason this is so crazy is that the Dr. who was on the floor yesterday, was telling us she wanted to keep us here for the entire first month of Jack's treatment. We had begun to think through how we could do this as a family and all the changes that would entail.... and then our nurse came in this morning and told us she was pretty certain we were going home, as early as today if we wanted!! Let me tell you about the past three days that lead up to this decision of our doctor. Firstly, you should know that when Jack was diagnosed with Leukemia, he had a blast count in his blood of 37. That count is now at ZERO!!!! After the central line was put in on Thursday, they began his chemo treatments Friday. He had been having a fever up until that time. He has responded so well to the chemo, and other medications, that he has been fever free since...
21 comments
Read more

.Day by Day.

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion says my soul. Therefore I will hope in Him." Lamentations 3:22-24 This has been the cry of my heart these past few days. When thoughts of the future loom ahead and what this is going to look like in a week, month, year are ever present, we are seeking to take things one day at a time. And even as we take it one day at a time, each morning, we are faced with more of the unknown- what the day will bring, how Jack will be feeling, how he will respond to his meds, how he will respond to the staff here, when the nasty side-effects of chemo will begin... the list of unknowns are seemingly endless. Not only is the thought of what the day will bring full of unknowns, but we are also very tired, as we are not sleeping much at night and so we are tempted to view the day through the filter of weariness. So yes, it is a fight each...
22 comments
Read more