Guilty As Charged

I am doing a semi-devotional study with my friend Hannah on Friday mornings. We are using the Book Mom...and Loving It! and we meet once a week to discuss what we read. I call it a semi-devotional because, while it is a Christian book, it doesn't actually study any specific parts of scripture. I does include prayers and gives scriptural counsel and we are enjoying it very much.

Our current chapter is on guilt, as are the next three. Guilt is something that moms deal with a lot. The responsibility to raise these human beings into responsible, respectful, confident, contributing adults is HUGE! And every time we make a mistake, which is quite often for some of us, we place another brick of guilt on our shoulders. The burden becomes almost too much for us to bear at times and we have the "mother" of all breakdowns. Our girlfriends reassure us that they too made the same mistakes and their kids turned out OK. Our husbands hug us and tell us everything will be fine, it's not that bad, and that we are in this together. Our God encourages us by saying that he uses all things (the good and the bad) to His glory. We shake it off, dry up the river of tears and start fresh again the next day- determined not to make the same mistake twice, even though there is a very good chance that we will.

Many of my readers are mom friends, and so to you I write this list of my worst guilt builders. These are the things that I feel most guilty about on a regular basis.
1. I don't feed my kids enough vegetables (seriously!)
2. I don't spend enough time just playing with them
3. I don't spend enough one on one time with any of them (Steve included)
4. Sometimes, while I love my child, I don't like her very much
5. By 7:30 p.m. I'm too tired to read bedtime stories and often skip that part of our routine.
6. I have yet to take any of my kids to the dentist (go ahead and gasp. i know you want to)
7. I have spanked out of anger
8. I yell too much
9. I send my kid to school without brushing her hair (but not everyday)
10. My house is too messy (everyday)
11. I don't contribute enough to our finances
12. My kids watch too much TV

This is not a list of my sinful confessions. These are things that I really feel guilty about. I lie awake at night and think about each one of these things and so many more that I can't take the time to list. These are the things I worry about, and I wonder how on earth my little girls will be alright after having to suffer such an inexperienced mother. Luckily, it is not about how they will survive on this earth. It is about their eternal lives with the Lord. And as much as I would like to take credit for getting them into heaven, only Jesus can control that. He is their only hope, and what an amazing hope He is! Despite me, despite themselves, they have a way to forgiveness and a way to perfection.

I encourage you to let go of your guilt, or at least a couple of bricks today, a couple more tomorrow, and to thank the Lord that He works ALL things to His glory.