Motherhood Monday

Matthew 25:36-40

"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me, I was in prison, and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer Him 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe you? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You? The King will answer and say to them "Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me."

I haven't felt like the world's greatest mom lately. In fact, I've felt quite inadequate. This bit of scripture was a big wake-up call though. What I do to my children (the least of them) I do to Christ. I do not think He would have appreciated being, well, yelled at this afternoon. I was tired, the children were overtired (thank-you day light savings time) and they were not following The Nite-Nite Rules.
1. Lay down the right way (no head hanging off the bed - half on the floor kinda thing)
2. Be silent (no screaming, no talking, no noises, no singing)
3. No playing (snuggle your stuffed animal, don't make him to the Hokey-Pokey)
4. Go Nite-Nite.

Seems simple enough, but not simple enough for 2 three years olds (or their Mommy. I didn't do such a good job following rule number 3). After having a Mommy Time-Out (going into the kitchen and crying) I returned to the twins room, apologized for yelling and told them why I was so upset. They both apologized for yelling at me and for being mean. I was proud at that moment because their apologizes were completely unsolicited. They both took a couple of deep breaths, as did I, we went over the rules again, and I said night-night to them. They followed the rules exactly, fell asleep on their own, and took a good nap. Mommy and baby brother snuggled together and took a nap as well. Its amazing what a little cry and a good nap can do to improve your day.

As soon as they woke-up, I made sure to thank them for doing such a great job following the rules. We talked about how we could have followed the rules without the screaming, and made plans to do a better job next time. I think, event though I had a bit of a tantrum, that eventually I handled the situation fairly well. We shall see how tomorrow goes!