"No Biting"
I was wrestling with Edie when out of nowhere she bit me on the chest. This would not have been a problem had it been a little love gnaw but she applied a bite force of about 1500 psi (equivalent to a pitbull). The only bright side was that she missed the nipple. I'm not sure I would have ever recovered from the physical and emotional scarring had she not missed.
Unfortunately, the bite was not a one time incident. Edie has shown herself to be an unpredictable and ferocious biting force, one moment playing nicely and the next launching her incisors at a helpless victim. Jamie and I now live in fear that at any moment we may be on the receiving end of an Edie bite attack.
When we say "no biting" we keep saying it until Edie repeats it. She's not allowed to play, watch TV, wander off, etc. until she says "no biting." Our hope is that by hearing "no biting" over and over and by saying it herself that her vicious behavior will be replaced by a gentler, more dignified lifestyle, which does not include carving her teeth marks into others.
Our three month old, Ellie, is crazy cute. She's irresistible. You can't but want to eat her up. Recently, I was playing with Ellie and I gnawed on her arm. Edie saw me and yelled at me, "No biting!" In that moment, I realized two things. First of all, she learned her carnivorous behavior from me. And secondly, that she's smart enough to call me out for being a hypocrit.
Deuteronomy 6:1-2, 4- says: Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you...that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you..."Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."
One of the reasons many parents struggle so much in discipling and disciplining their children is because they teach one thing with their words but teach the opposite with their actions. Deuteronomy 6 clearly shows us that teaching involves both verbal explanation and instruction, as well as modeling the right behavior. Parents are not only to teach God's Word to their children but they are to live by God's Word as an example.
The "do as I say not as I do" school of teaching doesn't work. Our lifestyle must coincide with what we say. If it doesn't, we lose our moral authority; and when that happens we lose our ability to disciple them and do as God has instructed us to do.
Parents, we have a high and distinguished calling on our lives. We have the privilege of teaching God's Word to our children and discipling them to love the LORD our God. Let's make it easier on them by living out the right example for them to see. If we do that, not only will we have greater influence on our kids, but we'll have less teeth marks.
In awe of Jesus,
Pastor Rick
Wow. That is quite a wake-up call...do my actions line up with my instruction? Sometimes, the answer is sadly no.
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