The other day my 2 1/2 year old grandson and I planted a garden. I had gone to the store to pick out seeds. I knew I wanted plants that would grow quickly and wouldn't wither and die in the Arizona sunshine. (yes, things besides cactus do grow in Arizona.) That is when I spotted the okra. I knew, from planting a garden with my son years ago, that okra grew great and fast! But, I also remembered that it reseeded itself all over the yard, and I had little okra forests everywhere! Besides, no one I knew wanted to eat okra. So I left the okra seeds in the store.
This got me to thinking. What if we only planted the seeds into our children that we wanted to grow? When it comes to our children we should only plant the seeds we want to grow in their fertile little hearts.
That means spending more time fighting for the things we believe, not fighting against the things we don't. When we focus on the positive and model good manners, kindness, getelness and grace, we are showing our children what that looks like. Love in action.
Every parent feels at some time in their children's life, their vocabulary shrinks to one word.........no. And no is a necessary word to keep our little ones safe. But I'm talking about something bigger. Do our kids witness us spending more time fighting for the things we believe, or do they see us spending our efforts fighting against the things we don't believe in? Do we complain about people and the world more than we praise others and point out the goodness in the world?
I want my kids to know the "good" stuff about me. I want to hear them say, "my mom loves that!" not, "my mom hates that!" Like I did last week for my garden, I want to stand in the isle and pick out the things I want to grow. I don't want to spend my time pulling out the things I don't like.