“If you love well, you will influence your children, and your love will cover over many inadequacies.” Sally Clarkson
I’m just gonna say it … the past 2.5 years have found my girls and I in a bit of a traumatic ordeal. It’s not all bad, our gracious Lord has covered and carried us. But there have definitely been some I-can’t-bear-to-take-another-day moments!
And because of this, four out of five of us girls have gone through some counseling. Our counselor is a strong woman of God and she’s become a sort of trusted mentor to me. She knows me, my girls, and our situation intimately.
She said something to me once that, when I’m at my weakest, I come back to time and time again — “It’s rare that I see every child in a family know they are loved. But each of your girls has no doubt in their mind how very much you love them.”
I was stunned.
First, by the fact it’s a rarity for every child in a family to feel wholly loved.
Second, what have I done that my girls are an exception to this statistic?
I yell. I get frustrated. I’m impatient. Short-tempered. I browse my phone too often. Sometimes I forget to feed them breakfast. And I may even {gasp!} be seen slamming a door or two on occasion.
Yeah. Not the stuff fairy-tale parenting is made of.
But you know what? Sally Clarkson got it right when she said, “Your love will cover over many inadequacies.”
There’s no magic formula to parenting well. And I’m certainly not saying I do. Far from it.
But what I’ve learned I do well? Love.
I love my children something fierce and I make sure — above all else — they know how deeply each of them is loved, wanted, and appreciated by me.
I continue to do my best to understand each of them as individuals. God has created them uniquely. So very, very, verrryyyy uniquely different from each other. I try to parent, love, and meet them where God has created them … and who God has created them to be. It’s not always easy and at times it drains me of every ever-lovin-ounce of patience and energy I can muster — and I don’t always do it right.
But the bottom line is this simple truth … “If you love well, you will influence your children, and your love will cover over many inadequacies.” Even the slamming of a door, ahem.
8 Comments
and it is not just apparent to your family counselor, you know… i read it, i see it. they are as blessed to have you as their mama as you are to have each of them. your love is a gift… God made your heart so special that even those slamming doors can’t keep the love from seeping out over the threshold!!! xoxo
you’re always a blessing to me, my friend … always a blessing!
This is absolutely and completely true Tracie. As much as we’d like to believe it exists, there really is no magic formula for parenting and it’s a relief when we figure that out. None of us do it perfectly.You are loving them well and that’s a wonderful legacy to give your children. Thanks for sharing honestly. Blessings!
coming from a momma who’s past these crazy years, i so love your encouragement! thank you kate!
Tracie, this is so encouraging! Love this truth from Sally (she’s so amazing). And so are you for admitting your shortcomings in an effort to encourage the rest of us who (ahem) have been there, done that! Thank you for this reminder today!
thank you jess! i love when we can be real with each other and know we’re not alone in our shortcomings! thanks for stopping by … be blessed!
I slam doors too………..Above all we love it may not seem it at the time, but yes we do LOVE with all our might!
[...] back to the whole door slamming thing I mentioned … hop over to Mothers of Daughters where I’m sharing an oh-so-important detail I’ve learned about parenting. And in case you’re wondering [...]