Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
God created me. I wasn’t an accident. He did it on purpose. He also created those little monsters, I mean blessings, running around my house. He made them on purpose as well. According to Ephesians 2:10 God made all of us to do “good works”… AND He did all of this in advance.
What on earth are those good works I am supposed to be doing? Well, I am pretty sure that yelling at my kids in anger is definitely not good works. When my words more like rotten apples than “apples of gold and silver” (lesson 4), I can definitely say I am not going about the good works that God had planned for me in advance. Ultimately, as mothers, our supreme “good works” are not ones that anyone will ever hear about on the evening news. Volunteering, feeding the poor, raising much needed research funds, and even teaching Sunday School are great works. However, there is one type of “good works” for which we are responsible above all else. That is to raise our children to know and love the Lord, serving Him as upright citizens who go out and tell the world of His love. This verse caused me to question whether or not I was doing the good works I was created to do.
When I see my oldest respond to her sisters in anger over their ineptitude at completing a task, I know she learned it from somewhere. How many times have I lost my temper because they couldn’t, or didn’t, complete a task? I am ashamed to admit that it has been too many times. She is merely mirroring me. So, if I want her to do good works, then I obviously need to model them. By changing my behaviors towards and around others, I can inadvertently change hers as well. No, I won’t fix her overnight. Shoot, I can’t fix myself overnight. God is working on me bit by bit. However, I am convinced in the bottom of my heart that if I dedicate myself to modeling a Quiet Grace Filled demeanor, my children will one day follow suit. Now, that doesn’t mean I just let go and let unfavorable behaviors go haywire. It is still my responsibility to teach and correct those behaviors in my children as I am correcting them in myself as well. They manner and tone in which I accomplish those lessons, however, has changed.
Prayer: Creator and Father, you amaze me. I stand in awe of the fact that you made me on purpose, planning “good works” for my life in Christ. Please help me to complete the “good work” of raising and training these children you have placed in my arms. Amen.
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