My boys get all amped up at bedtime.  While I fancy myself a wordsmith, there are NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE THE CHAOS THAT ENSUES EACH AND EVERY NIGHT!  No matter how I tweak their bedtime routine, what time we move upstairs, what combination of children I put together in a room, what books we read or songs we sing, it always spirals into tears and fears and pleas for MORE!  And I am wiped out.  

If you've read more than a handful of my posts then you know my mothering-mantra:  

"Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart!"  (Galatians 6:9)

And so I persevere in love and with love; loving words, loving boundaries, loving prayers, loving encouragement, loving consequences... love love love.

But tonight they didn't just fight me, they fought one another as well.  I split them up and sent them to different rooms.  (ding ding ding - to your corners!)  I loved on each of them separately, speaking truth and challenges, forgiveness and grace into their young hearts.  To Caleb I exhorted him to be a peacemaker instead of a trouble maker.  He responded, "I was mad that Brody called me a jerk... but he was right... I was being a jerk.  Why do I always do what I don't want to do?"

I've stopped counting the times my eldest has unknowingly quoted Scripture to me.  

"I do not understand what I do.

For what I want to do I do not do,

but what I hate I do."  (Romans 7:15)

We sat together in silence for a few moments as I tickled his back with my fingers.  He asked why my fingers were so soft and I told him I've been using lotion.  "I like it when they are dry" he said, "they tickle better that way."

I rubbed a few more moments and then asked him to tell me the verse he memorized this week. These words poured over his lips:

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly... But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6&

"Caleb," I gently whispered, "you were a jerk tonight.  What's more, you're powerless to do anything about it.  But God demonstrated his own love for you in this: even though he knew you'd treat your brothers this way tonight, Christ died for you."

"And since you have believed in Christ and received His forgiveness, you can trust that He is here now, strengthening you to do a better job next time your brother is being unkind to you.  God loved you even though you are a sinner...  He will help you learn to love Brody when Brody is sinning against you.  What do you think about that?  Can you demonstrate your own love toward Brody by loving him when he's being unkind to you?"

"I want to... I want to be a peace maker" was his simple reply.

I have a category of blog posts on the sidebar called "The hard days."  This post will be listed there. For I am amazed, time and again amazed, what deep, rich, soil toiling and seed planting lessons are taught on these difficult days with my boys.  

Say it with me, breath it in and pour it out in your own prayers, "Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."