A couple days ago I asked Patrick, "How can I teach my kids self-control when I have so little of it myself?"

I said this after Caleb stood in front of the toilet and peed all over it, his clothes, the bathroom rug, trashcan, toilet scrubber -- if it was within three feet, it got showered! I have never yelled at my child the way I yelled at him that morning. It was a situation in which Caleb needed to be disciplined (he's been potty-trained awhile and had been doing this exact thing for several days and we were exasperated), but I didn't handle well. Here I was trying to train him in physical self-control and I lost emotional self-control. I spent the day in deep remorse. Questioned my ability to do this mommy-thing. I followed Patrick around, pestering him to reaffirm to me that I was still a fairly good parent. What I was in that moment of outburst, was not a good mom. I was a mom who had stopped relying on God to deal with this temporary, three-year-old monster in my home.

I read this quote and thought it put perfectly into perspective why God makes so many of us parents.

"By God’s marvelous design, few life experiences humble us quite as effectively as parenting. As parents, we exchange our formerly spotless houses, ironed clothes, and ordered lives for the chaos of an incontinent, noisy, spit-producing being with a temper that needs to be tamed and with a piercing cry that rivals the sharpest fingernails ever scraped across a chalkboard. This tiny tyrant is providentially placed in our house with one grand program: to mold his or her parents into the image of our Lord. The way up spiritually, is by looking down physically." ~Gary Thomas

So I'm praying I won't miss what God has for me as I clean up that mess in the bathroom. And that I'll rely on Him completely for how to discipline my children,not how I feel about it in the moment.