Responding or Reacting

While I am at work, I long for the days where I can sleep in and get a break from the stress. And when I am at home trying to spend time with my kids, I feel like I am fighting an uphill battle where everything takes forever to accomplish (like laundry or dishes or what have you) and my patience is basically nonexistent.

Which leads me to the topic of my post. How do you respond to the stressful situations of life? Do you react without thought or do you slow down the run away train and respond? I tend to react based on frustration or anger and not respond with the love of God. 

James 1:19-20  My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,  because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

 Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

So God has been pinpointing my knee-jerk reactions and there has been a whole lot of apologizing and do-overs in my house lately.  I used to think it was a bad thing when I messed up as a parent, but God has changed that about me. I definitely strive to do my best for the sake of the kids, but there is definitely something to be learned from my mistakes, and not just as it relates to me. God has showed me that even in my weaknesses, when I mess things up, I am teaching my kids how to accept our mistakes (because they will happen) and how to rely on the grace of God to help us forgive each other and ourselves, and move on to be more like Jesus every day.

So one of my personal goals for 2014 is to slow down and learn to respond rather than react, and to give my kids and myself a break, and the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them without beating ourselves up because we aren't perfect.
 

I am a work in progress and am so grateful for the grace of God that allows me to learn and grow and doesn't give up on me when I mess things up.