The Child May Not Make it to Puberty

I need to vent. Some of you may be going through the same thing I am right now and if so please speak up. I need to know I am not the only one suffering with a strong willed child.

Let me explain my morning to you. I wake my ten year old son up this morning to get ready for school and he wasn't to happy to be getting out of bed. In to the kitchen I go to lovingly prepare a nutritous meal for breakfast. OK, I put cereal in a bowl and poured milk on top of it....

Anyway, in he comes, plops down in the chair in front of his breakfast and begins to complain. "I HATE SCHOOL" he tells me. I reply "Well, you have quite a few years to go so you better find something to like about it" I'm not sure what the next thing was that came out of his mouth but it wasn't pretty because I instantly got irked and told him he'd be wise to close his mouth before it got him in big trouble. Here's where the willfull child comes in....

Next thing I know, I look into the kitchen to find my son sitting at the table, hands down by his side, mouth closed, his cereal not touched. He just sits there silent and still. I get what he is doing..... he is closing his mouth. Does he like to annoy me????

So I make him go get the rest of the way ready and then send him back to the table. Again, he sits at the table but does not eat. Finally, I say "what are you doing?" "Well, you told me to close my mouth" he says sarcastically.

Now I am mad! Two can play this game and make a point. I take away the cereal, dump it down the drain and send him out to the bus stop. No breakfast. A little hunger won't kill him but it might just make his brain remember next time that Mom doesn't like that type of behavior.

The bus came and I now need to go spend a little time in prayer before he comes home.

The Perfection of God

God is perfect in every way. By definition, perfect would mean to be complete in all respects and without defect or omission. To be perfect is to be sound and flawless. Such a description encapsulates God. He is flawless.

Psalm 50:2 gives a wonderful picture. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth.
AW Tozer in his book The Attributes of God (Volume 1) says “In this verse we have three words in special relation to each other – “perfection,” “beauty” and “God.” And while it is Zion that is called the perfection of beauty, it is the perfection of beauty because God shined out of her.”
She was the perfection of beauty because God shined out of her. So what do you think? Are we a perfection of beauty when we allow God to be shining out of us? I think so!
Perfection….. The highest degree of excellence. No flaws. A characteristic that only God can ascribe to. But don’t we try to reach perfection ourselves?
I find it ironic that so many people, including me, have fallen into the trap of perfectionism. Thinking you can do things perfectly or be a perfect person is impossible. We are not capable of living a perfect life. Only God can live up to a standard that expects no flaws. Humanity is flawed. To expect perfection from yourself is saying you should not be human.
To be human is to be flawed, God knows this. To expect more from ourselves than even God expects is just wrong thinking. The attribute of perfection is God’s to carry, so if you suffer with perfectionism, give yourself a break. God doesn’t expect you to be perfect, why are you?
The best way we can come close to perfection is to do just what the Scripture above tells us to do. Let His light shine through us. The Perfect One won't make us become perfect, only beautiful because of His light.