Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Idol breaking.



We finished up the sermon series by Mark Driscoll preached out of the book of Song of Songs. I can't even begin to explain how awesome this series is and how Josh and I now have a completely different outlook on our marriage relationship. The very last sermon was titled "I was a wall" and it dealt with a few issues of parenting. Again, another amazing sermon.

One particular portion of the sermon really stuck out to me. Pastor Mark posed a question, "think of the times when you are getting most frustrated by your kids. What is really the cause of your frustration?". In this part of the sermon he had been talking about idols. He was pointing out how many "idols" we, as parents, have and by having kids we are setting ourselves up for our idols to be smashed and broken all day long.

It made me realize how often I get frustrated with the kids because they are ruining or interrupting something that I am doing for myself.

One of the biggest idols that my kids demolish all day long is my clean house! I'm not sure why I haven't been able to let go of this idol yet...because you would think having four kids would do that to me...but lets just say I do 'cry over spilled milk'. I mean, obviously..we have spills and accidental messes here all the time and the kids don't get in trouble for this, but inside it drives ME crazy. I am always cleaning...and looking behind to find a trail of mess and this makes me frustrated with my kids.

I do think that an organized home is best and I love to provide an "en gedi" for my husband when he returns from a hard day at work (one that he doesn't require...but does appreciate!), but there IS a balance there. I cringe when my kids walk inside and leave their shoes on, or when they are eating lunch and food is dropping on the floor.

Until now, I've just tried to hide the fact that these things make me crazy. Now that the fact that my clean house is actually an "idol" has been pointed out to me, I am trying really hard to 'lay it down'.

These last few days of summer weather have really been a test to this...as the kids have been enjoying mud puddles and all kinds of fun summer things! Of course, they have always enjoyed these things, but yesterday I actually let them walk in the house to their bedrooms with muddy feet to change their clothes!!

And trust me, I've always loved the look of dirty kids at the end of a summery day! Dirty kids equal tired kids!

What are some of your idols that cause you to be frustrated with your kids?

5 comments:

Amy said...

I am so right there with you! We just tore up our back yard and we've got dirt and new grass growing...the home has been covered with a layer of gritty sand on the hardwood floors...I get tired of cleaning up one mess to see that the next room has just been destroyed. Why is that?

One of the 'idols' is my computer time...I seem to get more frustrated with them when they are needing me and I'm trying to play a silly game on facebook....really Amy, where's the priority in that?!?!

Working hard on this area...what a great post! Love it!

Amy said...

Great post Kristen. I have been reading the book Idols of the heart so I am learning all the idols that I have too!! There's tons of them, and a clean house is one that I also have! And just "ease" itself is an idol for me. Not wanting to take care of certain things, or get up and do things for them the second they want it, having time to MYSELF, "me time" is an idol...oh the list goes on!!!
Hey what is that church's website agian?? Thanks! Amy

Kristin said...

Yes...the computer is right up there on my list of idols! I have been working hard at choosing more appropriate times for my computer play! I'm so glad I am not the only one.

How many times a day do I say "just a minute" to one my kids when they make requests like needing a drink, or playing a game...because I am in the middle of something on the computer. Actually, I'm pretty sure that happened more than once as I was writing this blog post!

Kann said...

My computer... I agree.. we are doing that series with our bible study on Wednesdays.. we are loving it!

Angela said...

Wow, great post Kristin! I've got to do some thinking about my idols, it might be painful to deal with but I think it would be worth it to. Thanks for sharing!