“God sends us difficult children to test our capacity to love like our heavenly Father – to be affectionate with the disagreeable. Quote from the book ‘Gospel-Powered Parenting,’ by William P. Farley.

To sum it up in one sentence. How we love our children matters. 

It matters to them, but it also matters to us as parents. It shapes and forms us just as much as it does our children. My personal take. 

Motherhood is sanctifying; we get a sense of that the first 24 hours on the job, but what isn’t mentioned is that Motherhood is sanctifying, sacrificial, and strengthening. 

It is the highest of privileges ever bestowed on me, full of pressure yet even more full of opportunity. 

The opportunity to show our children the love of Jesus. Will it be perfect? No, only He is, but it will be purposeful. Displaying the love of the Heavenly Father is only available if we know Him first. When we lean into our relationship with Him first, it fuels us to love the disagreeable (our children) through the lens of Christ. 

I chuckled, writing this: how often have I been the disagreeable child to the Lord? Daily, I assure you. 

Yet, He loves me and continues to love me daily, pressing into, choosing, refining, and loving me. 

I want that for me and my children to feel a love like I feel from Him. It starts at home, in the hard, disagreeable moments, where it would be easier to turn away. But with His love and strength, we can mirror Him and turn to our disagreeing child in the challenging moments and give them the affectionate love they need, and ultimately, we need to. 

Next time there is a moment of explosion, a tantrum the size of Mt. Everest, or a flat-out hard day, take the opportunity and show the love you are shown day in and day out from our heavenly Father to them.