noticing a mote {day 10}

One of the passages I read this morning was in Luke 6... where the Lord Jesus says:

Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? ...why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? ... Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye. [select from verses 39-42]

Usually I hear this passage preached or spoken of as a reason for "not judging" your brother... And I like this quote I have seen recently: "Don't judge me because I sin differently than you." which implies that we all sin, because we do!... but there ARE appropriate times and places to give judgment.

And I don't think I'm going where you think I'm going... {smiles}.

I am turning the tables on myself here.

Often, I find myself disciplining my children... for acting: just-like-me! 

Not - how I acted when I was a child {that's another post!}, but how I acted... - yesterday.

I see the mote in my brother's [child's] eye but NOT in my own, until it has driven me crazy... in my child's life! 

Recently, and again this morning, I have purposed to asking God to help me see the beam/mote/problem in my own life before the same thing in my children causes me frustrations. 

Because- while I can punish them for doing wrong and teach them about what is appropriate and kind, etc. {as I should!} -until I actually acknowledge [that's the hardest part] and change these situations in my own life, all the teaching and disciplining and punishing will be counter-productive!

And then the Lord gives grace and wisdom for me to deal with the same in my children's lives. {It is always a lesson in patience.}

{Being a mother is one of the 

most rewarding things I have ever done, 

but it is also quite humbling! :)}