Never ask them "Why?"

My daughter is what Dobson would call the Strong-Willed Child. I could have written the book. From birth, she has fought to have her way, and sometimes quite violently! Even as a baby, if she thought things were going one way but the "routine" changed, she screamed until you gave her what whe wanted, what she expected. At 3, she is still that way, and in increasing measure! If she hears that we're going to the Zoo, she will talk about the Zoo NONSTOP until we actually go. And she will remind us over and over that we told her we could go to the Zoo. But she also gets extremely defiant if she thought we were doing something but it never happened. She even negotiates, "well, after we finish this, then we can do it, right?" She has her plans, and she will see them through! Nothing hinders this little girl.

I know that children are depraved and born with a sin nature, but sometimes you still look at them and think, "where in the world did this come from?!" Or worse yet, you ask, "Why are you throwing this fit? Why did you do that?" Until one day when I was doing laundry and trying to pay bills and my children kept "interrupting" me. I could feel the blood start to boil because I wanted to do something specific, and someone else was hindering my plans. I do not handle change well. I want my schedule to rule the day, and my flesh takes over when my schedule is interrupted. My daughter is just like me. Adam passed his sin to all generations, to me, and to my daughter. But God calls us to be patient, long-suffering, kind, joyful, to "count others more significant than ourselves." It is so easy - and so sinful - to let our desires rule in our hearts. I don't think I need to ask why my daughter does anything; I need to wonder how I can point her to Christ.

Lord, take my own sin from my heart so my daughter will have the opportunity to see Christ in me.