'Very Simply . . . God won’t bother’

Risking daggers again, but this needs to be shared. Please see my heart.

As a parent, I LOVE all three of my children the same amount. I DELIGHT in their individuality. I TAKE PRIDE in their abilities and continued growth. I DESIRE for each of them to BE good and to DO good and in doing so, desire for them to HAVE happiness and success. Most times, I want NOTHING MORE than to just spend time with them. But, I have to be honest - I struggle to WANT to spend time with them when they are being difficult and do nothing to change.
I struggle when they come to me with complaints but refuse the guidance I lay out for them – or worse yet, agree to follow my guidance and then change it to suit their comfort needs. I struggle with this, because they ALWAYS come back and complain more and even blame ME for the effects of their poor choices as if I should have done more.

My two older children have made the following statements to me, “You love (so & so) more than me.” A comment I usually IGNORE. I finally sat them down when they were old enough and said, “Look, I love you both, but I do not enjoy spending time with you when you treat me like this. I will love you always – nothing you do will make me stop loving you, but I will NOT CHASE YOU and I will not sit with you if you choose to act this way. Trust me, I have other things that are more enjoyable for me. When you are ready to change your attitude, you know WHERE to find me.”

I have noticed, in myself, that WHEN one of my children is struggling, I literally HURT inside for them. I want so badly for them to make the right choices but I often grow weary of trying with them. I am literally TURNED OFF by their behavior and have to LIMIT my participation with them lest I rage out at them. When they DO finally start to come around, it’s as if I SEE THEM out of the corner of my eye, making a small change. While I am spending time with the other two, I keep one eye ever present on the third – just watching . . . waiting . . . hoping for a change in attitude. Then I start to see it – but I don’t pull away from the other two as they deserve my full attention at that time. I wait for the wandering one to make the FIRST EFFORT to come our way . . . I open the circle of activity just enough to see if they are willing to put themselves out there for me. And when I see the effort made, I often have to hold back my JOY and eagerly wait for the RIGHT MOMENT to wrap my arms around my child and say, “WELL DONE . . . I am so proud of that decision and effort”. I usually cannot wait to BLESS them with something FROM ME.

Hopefully you will see where I am going with this. In the same manner as I am with my children, God grows WEARY of our habitual behaviors. He grows weary of our lackadaisical efforts. He is WAITING for us to DISTRACT HIM with our renewed efforts.

For those of you who may still not get it . . . get off your couch, stop complaining and give God a REASON to pay attention to you.