Tabitha has frustrated me so much lately with her disobedience. Some days she is such a princess. She doesn't resist and does what you ask her to do. However, she knows how to put up a fight over little things.Yesterday she was trying to wipe my mouth and I told her "no" three times and pushed her hand away. She reached over again and wiped it. She got into trouble and started crying. She said, "but I did it gently." Then it dawned on me. She doesn't know that disobedience in itself is wrong. She knows that lying and hitting are wrong. In her mind there's nothing sinful about touching her sister's face or turning on the t.v. even if mommy said not to do it. I took this opportunity to explain to her that disobedience is sin. She seems to have understood. There hasn't been any earth shattering changes in her behavior, but I have seen some improvement.
Unfortunately I think this is one of those "learning on the job" incidents that Tabitha had to suffer for. She would've gotten in trouble far less over the past year if I had just told her this simple truth. Now I have to examine my own life and see where I am failing in obedience.
1 comment:
We are there with Ethan too. He's starting to talk about how disobedience is sin, and how God hates sin in our lives. But he's only 3, and the only way for him to really grasp this concept is to learn that he has to obey his parents, no matter what we say. The *why* will come later.
I always have to remind myself that I HAVE to mean what I say, in order to teach him that disobedience is wrong. It is so easy to let some things go, but I've been encouraged recently to make sure that he ALWAYS obeys. It takes so much effort, but he seems to be slowly catching on that OBEDIENCE IS A GOOD THING! And that is the kind of heart attitude that will keep him soft towards the Lord.
Keep working on it...we are too!
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