training

Matt got himself a Whippet puppy for Christmas, and again and again I find myself watching the long-legged little sponge and thinking, "You may not think you're training him right now, but we are. Everything we do with him and around him IS training him...just maybe not the way we would have wanted!"

One scrap of table food, and Miika at the table every meal. One morning letting him out of his crate extra early because he's whining, and the next morning he's whining earlier still. One whack from a cat, and he bows his head and puts his tail between his legs when one enters the room. 

Intentional or not, the way we wanted to or not, we are training him.

EXACTLY, the Lord reminds me. 

My attitude about doing the dishes or cleaning up vomit or with Matt...the children are observing and are learning something, whether I realize it or meant to or not. The way I talk about others. The way I talk about those who have hurt me. The way I regard the neighbor kids, the monotonous tasks, the weary days, the way I act when I'm sick. My kids and the many kids who trail them are being trained by waking up to mama at her desk reading her Bible, or by mama speaking poison when she's mad. How I respond when someone is fraudulently wracking up amazon charges, when someone from church is sick, when there are people or children who need help, how Matt and I love each other well or don't, even down to my very attitude. How I spend my down minutes, how we spend our money, how we give and how we take, what movies they see me watching, how they see me respond to the news.

Everything we do and say is teaching someone something....what a beautiful and heavy responsibility. 

The only way to do this well, I'm convinced, is with His mighty help and being as completely and totally saturated in Him as possible, so that what is rolling off to those around us is Jesus, Jesus.  

If what we're sharing with others is simply what God is sharing with us....what a gift we radiate.  If we harbor certain unforgivenesses or bitternesses, if we allow certain habits or less-than-holinesses, if we leave alone the things God has asked us to address...our children are learning them. What do they miss, these ones? 

Oh Lord, fill the gaps by your mighty Grace, and help us as we disciple those around us.