Teach>Tell

By now, I’m sure you have seen the “I Swimsuit Season So Hard” video floating around by the two hilarious moms over at I Mom So hard.  If not, click here.  YOU ARE WELCOME!  I have watched this video like a bajillion times and I have probably whipped out my phone to show others an equal amount of times.  This video is so hilariously true.  I think every woman needs to watch this right before swimsuit season EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR.  These two moms have us in stitches laughing so hard right up until the end.  Then one of the moms says, “I want my daughter to love her life and to love herself and she’s not gonna do it because I tell her to, she’s gonna do it because I teach her to.”  BAM!  So true, so very true.  That phrase has stuck with me ever since, I even wrote it down in my journal.

Surprisingly though, my intention for this post is not to write about our body image, but to camp out on that phrase because it has been eating my lunch ever since I heard it.  For example, the other day as my kids were getting into our van and we were getting ready to run some errands, I overheard my oldest being very impatient with his sisters.  I hollered out the door as I was trying to man-handle the dog back into the house, “Please be more patient with your sisters!”  And then it hit me like a brick wall, what that mom from the video said (in my own paraphrase)…”he’s not going to be patient because I tell him to be patient, he’s going to be patient because I teach him to.”  Dang.  See, what I mean!

Patience has never been my strong suit, just being honest.  In fact, I’ve been warned about praying for more patience…according to Lisa Bailey, every time she prayed for patience God gave her more children.  So, I am a little leary when it comes to praying for patience, haha!  But honestly, here’s the deal…whatever I want for my kids, whatever character traits I hope and pray for them to have some day, they aren’t going to acquire these traits because I hound it into their brains.  No, it’s going to come from me showing them what it looks like.  It’s going to come from me teaching them what it means to be patient, compassionate, humble, gentle, kind and loving (Colossians 3:12).  It’s going to come from me daily, “putting on,” these character traits whether I feel like it or not that day.  And here’s the bottom line, they need to see me living these traits out first and foremost at home with them and towards them.  They aren’t going to be patient or kind towards their siblings or others because I tell them to, no, it’s going to come from me showing them what that looks like on a daily basis.

Carry on Mama!