Thankful Thursday- Line upon line

"Line upon line. Precept on precept. That is how he lifts us. That is how he teaches his childreeeeen."

Stuck in your head now, isn't it;)

Of the many things parenthood has given me, one of my top fives is a greater understanding of my relationship with my Father in heaven.

As I lay in bed last night, failing to fall asleep so thinking instead, I had some fun thinking about my sweet boys and the silly faces they make. As usually happens when I think about them in the peace and quiet of their absence, I started to mentally kick myself for all the times I've lost my patience with them.

My thoughts turned to Heavenly Father. How is it possible that He is so patient with me?! There are so many things that I make mistakes on over and over and over again. When similar situations happen with my kids, I get fed up pretty darn fast.

"I JUST told you not to do that or you'd get hurt! Now you're hurt! Why don't you listen to me?!"

If anyone has the right to say that, it's Him.

Or how about, "You KNOW that's not okay. So why did you do it????"

How am I any different than my boys in my behavior? I'm not. Sure, the things I mess up on are very different from the issues they have, but I've learned most of the precepts that the boys are just beginning to internalize. We are on different levels, but we're still in the same process.

Heavenly Father is continually forgiving, understanding, and merciful when I biff it. He's never yelled at me or lost patience with me. I have felt chastised and I have needed to repent, but I've never felt any anger from him. What I have felt is love. And I believe that's more effective, motivational, and persuasive than anything.

If He can be so patient with me when I mess up on bigger issues, then why can't I emulate that and be patient when a little fellow I took part in creating screams that it's his turn for the scooter or whines about not getting a treat or jumps on the furniture necessitating the 10,000th reminder that that is not okay only to be followed by someone continuing to jump, fall, and hit his head less than two minutes later?

I am determined to be more like Him. I have certainly progressed over the years, but I can still do so much better. He is patient with me and that has shown me how to be patient with the children He's entrusted to me.

I'm so grateful to have that perfect example of parenthood and to be walking this path with Him.

What are you thankful for today?