The flesh has gotta go, even in our children.

A recent visit to Marshall's prompted a little blog post.

There was a lovely little darlin girl singing Christmas carols in the store.

Charming, delightful, oh so sweet you say,

except,

she was singing at the TOP OF HER LUNGS at 10:00 am in Marshall's.

Now I do not get to Marshall's too often but I sure want to enjoy my experience while there. The little girl was singing so loudly that no one could miss her antics,  after about 10 minutes she could clearly be heard at the top of her lungs exiting Marshall's.

Shew!

 Come on now, quit being an old grannie you say.

There is a spiritual principle that does apply here.

We all must die to our flesh.

The Bible speaks of this dying  again and again.

First, this little child was singing so loudly as to disrupt one entire, several thousand feet store.

I did not come to Marshall's to hear her sing and neither did anyone else.

We came to shop.

Mother, you should have said, "That is nice sweetie but we are not going to sing so loudly as to bother the other shoppers , we will sing loudly when we are in the car or at home."

Mother did not say this nor did she say anything else, at all, no restraint, no admonishing, nothing, the little darlin competely got her way.

Children  should not be allowed to constantly expressing their every wish or desire at any given moment.

Marshall's is for shopping, I need to think, I need to shop, I need to gather my thoughts.

I cannot do any of these with the loud wailing of Christmas carols at the top of your child's lungs.

What about the preciousness of others?

My needs, even as a little child, do not supercede anyone elses needs.

All needs, (even the need to sing loudly) do not need to be immediately expressed.

Another dying to the flesh.

Harsh you say?

We as parents are acting in the place of the Holy Spirit in our children's lives until they come to a saving grace knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

At the conversion the Holy Spirit steps in.

Until that conversion,

we are to guide, admonish, convict and sometimes even punish.

A child does usually not know correct public behavior and must be taught.

The home, store, church, school are the battlegrounds where this learning takes place.

I know Mom you want to shop and not be a Mom for a while, 

you do not get that luxury when your children are present.

I have taken my own children out of the store, administered a little discipline in the car, and then headed back inside.

I told them, "We are going back in the store and you are going to practice behaving, again, if you do not behave we will come back to the car and have some more discipline."

Dying to the flesh.

There have been times where we have just gone home to deal with issues.

My child's behavior is far more important than any thing I may be searching for in a store.

I love children, I loved mine and will probably love yours but, Mothers, you have an awesome job that involves teaching and disciplining and sometimes teaching a death to the ole flesh.

I know, it is hard, but trust me, it is our mandate that is so well worth the effort.

It is not about me, the little old grannie, having a good shopping experience.

It is about raising a God glorifying, God acknowledging, God following,

well balanced loving human being, that takes about 18 years.

In the meantime, pray for that saving knowledge and do your disciplining and discipling along the way.

You mom, will be blessed,

We will be blessed too.