Incentives...

Lori over at JOY Unupseakable just gave me a great idea... I think;) We will see...

My kids are having a tough time with some major "joy robbers" lately. They bicker and fuss and complain and provoke and... And it's really causing me to have major anxiety. Every time I think of how stressed out this makes me, the little devil on my shoulder reminds me of how miserably I am failing as a parent. I hear him whisper in my ear that the reason they act this way is because I am imperfect and incapable of deserving a peaceful home. Because of my own imperfections I will never be able to lead my kids to peaceful companionship with one another... that only when I get my act together will I be able to expect this from them. I start to beat myself up for not ever doing enough or praying enough or reading my Bible enough or "training" my children enough.

Then I take a step back and say... No way. That's not true. I AM a good mom. Matt is a terrific father. We DO train our children. We DO pray. We DO read God's word... DAILY. We DO spend time together as a family, talking about the things of the Lord. ALOT. Like EVERY DAY.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that if we do "A" and "B" the result will always be "C". Sorry to all of you perfectionist, controlling mommas like me:)

No. My job is to do "A" and "B", and leave "C" up to the Lord. My good friend Jill always says, "There is no room for me in the Trinity". I LOVE that!

HOWEVER...

Is our God not a God of wonderful incentives? Like, the very best incentives IN THE WORLD???

He has PROMISED HEAVEN to those who overcome!

So it's not ironic that my children may respond well to some earthly incentives. I know I sure do!

While Lori is offering money for meal compliments (love it!), I am going to have my own little experiment going on tomorrow... Just to see if it has what it takes to turn around this crazy cycle we are on.

I can't afford to do it every day, but I think it may be just the thing to show them how easy it really is to love each other and to put each other's needs and feelings ahead of their own.

Ansley came to me at bedtime a week ago and shared that she wanted to have a close, best-friendship with her brothers, but she felt like it was impossible. I will be candid here and share that when I offered to pray with her specifically about that, she declined. So this is just another little something we are working on... Trusting that God cares about all of the details of our lives. Why do things have to be so complicated?

Anyhow, I am hopeful that tomorrow may just be the day that we all "win the day". This is our little "A-Team" goal... to win the day. It's been hard for my little athletes to finish well lately. Really hard.

But...

"Tomorrow is a new day, with no ,istakes in it... yet" ~ ANNE SHIRLEY

I will let ya'll know how it goes!

Oh! Before I forget, I also want to give a shout out to my sweet friend Sharon. She is the wife of our youth pastor and a true servant of the Lord.

Thank you, Sharon!!!!

She has some awesome administrative skills and she knows I do not:) I mentioned that I had a mound of adoption grant applications and paperwork sitting on my pile, just waiting to be filled out. I also mentioned that I've been so swamped and dreading taking the extra time (which I have none of) to fill them out and send them in. So she texted me Friday night and said she was coming over and to get the paperwork out! Look at the smile on her face! She was in her element. Matt and I were able to go through all of the financial paperwork and she read and organized each and every list and requirement and paperclipped them all together. That is a true friend. This is the kind of stuff that gets me really excited about the community (family) of Christ. She is living out exactly what we have been teaching to our youth group on Sunday nights... I love that!

Blessings,
Rebecca