Thar She Blows!!!

How often are you convicted by your children? I had one of those moments the other day. As Lily inches toward adulthood (okay- she's only 10, but I'm buying stock in Midol already!), she and I seem to battle more and more. During the course of one of our confrontations , I had given her ample warning, and another, and another and yet ANOTHER and when that didn't work, I swatted her in the arm.

That child said words that will ring in my ears for eternity. She said, "If Jesus were here, you wouldn't hit me!" Of course, in my own defense, I shot back, "If Jesus were here you wouldn't talk back to me like that!", but I knew I was busted.

I'm a Mom who believes in spanking MY OWN CHILDREN! Controversial...I know. When people say that spanking teaches violence, I really believe that it teaches that there are negative consequences to negative behaviors. What I DON'T believe in is beating a child. I know the difference between spanking a child to emphasize a point and beating, and I've never crossed the line, though I do lose my temper. This is where my counting skills come into play. I can take a deep breath and stay in control of my actions, though the screaming thing....still working on that. I'm sure glad I know how to tap into the power of prayer, because there are days when I get pushed! I realize there are parents who don't know when to stop- and that is wrong.

Her words made me think. What WOULD I do or say differently if Jesus were in the room? What do I have in my home. or on my TV that I would try to hide if Jesus knocked on the front door? I'm sure there's still some 'dirt' from my past hanging around. I still indulge in a rated R movie from time to time. I'm sure not all of my literature is up to snuff with God's standards. When I'm looking at the multitude of horse catalogs that come to my home, do I linger extra long on the cowboy in the Wranglers (I am only human!)?

God convicts us of these things also when we least expect it. One night, it was pretty late, and I was channel surfing. We have cable because we live in the boondocks, and without it , you get 3 basic channels if you have a TV tower and a lot of foil. The basic package on our TV has some...'not so nice stuff' on it when it gets past a certain hour. I happened to land on that station and lingered a little longer than I should have. Suddenly the phone rang, and guess who it was? My pastors wife! Of course, I couldn't find the mute button on the remote control and my heart went into a panic as this filth was being emitted from the screen. It seemed like minutes before I got the channel changed and I didn't hear a word of the inquiry for which she had called. I'm not sure she heard, and if she did, was kind enough not to give me the 'stink eye' at church. Guess what I did the moment I got off the phone? I eliminated all of those channels from the line up in the remote, so I wouldn't accidentally find them and be tempted. Thank goodness for modern technology!

Maybe it's time I take a good hard look at those things. Sometimes its not only our actions that require analysis, but everything which with we surround ourselves. After I gave all of my reasons for believing in spanking, I looked at it in the light of what my daughter said, and she is right....I wouldn't have smacked her if Jesus was watching me....but guess what....He IS! I guess I'd better reanalyze and restructure my thinking. Until then, I guess I'm going to have to give up my 'head flickin' and butt kickin' ways, and now I don't have to have my finger on the mute button when the phone rings! PHEW!