Blew me away! 🫣 #christianmom #christian #discipline

The Bible warns us that comparing our child to someone else isn't discipline, it's provocation. Ephesians 6:4 says, fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Now I done read that verse 50-11 times. However, I've always attributed to yelling and harshness. Until the Holy Spirit highlighted Galatians 5:22-23 in deeper context. A few years ago, during conflict with my teen, I told her, you act just like your father. Of course, I did not mean that in a way that was sunshine and rainbows. What happened next blew me away. My daughter comes to me and let me know that I hurt her feelings when I said that. Then the Holy Spirit highlights The 3 clusters in the fruit of the Spirit. Cluster 1, the foundation: love, joy, peace. I modeled none of those in the conversation. Cluster 2, what we're supposed to do under pressure, aka conflict: long-suffering, gentleness, goodness. And cluster 3, the response: faith, meekness, self-control. I apologized to my daughter and explained that I will pause and practice the fruit of the Spirit moving forward during our conversations in active conflict. I haven't said that to her again since then because now I understand in greater depth that comparing my child to anyone else is the definition of provoking. Now, if you've been there, same boat, different paddle, comment the word snap and I got you.