As I sit here typing this post, it is 11:43PM. In some cases, it isn't very late, but in other cases, it is. I'm late for bed. I should have been ready over an hour and 15 minutes ago, but here I am. I am waiting for my jars to be sterilized so I can process my spaghetti sauce. I don't mind so much. Today has been a very busy and full day with all kinds of things going on and with a late start on the tomatoes, it is what happens at times. I have heard many people say that they get up and start processing tomatoes for sauce at 5AM. I could do that, but it wouldn't show my children how to can because they would still be in bed. I've heard of many dedicated precious Italian ladies getting together to make a day of canning their tomatoes in to sauce starting in the wee early morning hours. When you have a family of Italian ladies who have done things like this for years, then it is a good thing. It is a tradition. It is a wonderful thing.
I am trying to train my children in diligence. It seems to be an ever needful lesson due to the sin nature in all of us. We get distracted and need to get on track again. Isn't it that way with all of our lives, though? Does it mean that we're any less diligent when we get distracted by that hummingbird feeding off the nectar in the flowers by the window? Or watching the baby robin learn to fly? Or having to stop doing the dishes just to have a bubble fight with one's sibling? Or stopping to grab that daddy-long-legs to scare Momma half out of her skin?! LOL I'm finding that with diligence, comes a lot of other "tag-alongs". This is by no means exclusive because I am sure you can add more to it, but many times I find that grace, mercy and peace come along with training about diligence, also obedience. What does obedience mean though? Do I expect my children to come to me when I call them? Yes! Do I expect my children to do what I tell them to do for the good of the family or for themselves? Yes! At what time, though, do we not just expect them to obey, as if it is second nature for them to do, but for them to go even further than just mere obedience in one thing, taking other things upon themselves to do? For example, if I tell one of my children, "Please go check the laundry and bring up anything that needs folded." When they come up, they've done exactly as they've been told, but hadn't thought to put the stuff from the washer to the drier or start another load. How does one broach the subject of looking around to see what else needs to be done? Much more, how to do it without frustration? As adults, they will need to do this themselves.
After discussing this same issue with my beloved, his words, ever so wise, were simply when they come back and tell you they're done, ask them to look around and see what else they need or could do. In theory, this simple action should get them in to the habit of going that extra mile. Why hadn't I thought of that already?
How soon do you begin this type of training with your children?
Blessings,
Regina
No comments:
Post a Comment