The mom blames herself. She is very quick to share her own short comings and bouts of anger. If only she didn’t ever lose her temper, she is convinced her son would not have this battle to deal with.
Mutually this mom and I know another mother with ten children. One of her adult sons has stated that he does not remember his mom ever raising her voice and only remembers her showing her frustration one time. WHAT?! WOW!!
This mother of ten also had a wild child son that was easily angered. His younger years were a roller coaster of unpredictable behavior. It was difficult to know what would set him off, so situations were constantly catching them by surprise. This very blessed son’s parents continued guiding and correcting him. Even when it appeared their attempts were in vain, they continued, believing God was working where they could not see.
Yes, this story has a very happy ending. This mother says that when people that knew this boy as a child see him now, they cannot believe he is the same person.
This testimony has brought hope to the first mom mentioned above. Her son is still young and they may have years of training ahead of them, but there is hope!
As far as blaming herself, we must always evaluate how our example is affecting our children; yet, I think this mom is assuming too much blame. Carrying all the blame is a burden too heavy for anyone to carry. God is bigger than our short comings and as long as we are confessing our sin and growing ourselves, then our children too will forgive our mistakes.
As one of my favorite verses to quote says, Galations 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
The fruit of my garden is random in its harvest time. Some things like radishes pop up in a matter of weeks. The majority of the produce takes a full growing season to be ready to gather. Still there are a few crops that we had to wait two years before we could enjoy their flavors. Of those we had to wait for they just happen to be Todd’s and my favorite things. His was rhubarb and mine was raspberries. Were they worth the wait? Absolutely.
One last gardening point, even though we could start to pick our favorite fruits in two years, we were still not “reaping a harvest”, we were tasting a sampling of what was to come. It will take several more years before our harvest is plentiful.
Do not grow weary mom in your perseverance, repetition, or seeking of wisdom. Press on by keeping your eyes on the harvest; knowing the Master Gardener, God Himself, is on your side. As you plant, water and weed….He will make the plants grow!