Battle of the Wills.

Proverbs 13:24 "whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him"

We were at a standoff, me and my daughter. Then Poppie came and saved the day.

Lilly had a bowl of cereal that she was carrying up the stairs. She let go with one hand and all the cereal spilled out onto the floor. Lilly, who doesn't like mess was distraut. I bent down to help her and realized I was the one doing the work. I asked her to help, that is when the battle of wills took place. And for 20 mins it was a showdown. After 5 mins of me asking her to pick it up, her screaming, then me having to implement discipline, I knew that if I gave up then she had won. So for the next 15 mins the process continued. All the while I was praying that God would help me stick to my guns and help me to discipline in a way that is pleasing to the Almighty.  After 20 mins I felt I was loosing my temper and by Gods grace my dad was home. I called him down stairs, he sat down instructed her to obey and clean up. She did, a little hesitant, but she obeyed.

My mom told me afterwards "wonder who she takes after" I was that kid...I remember clearly sitting on the counter, my mom trying to get me to take my antibiotics, me refusing. Mom called dad, who was in St Louis working on his doctorate, he disciplined me over the phone, and I took the medicine. Looks like
Lilly has my strong will.

Lord help me to be a loving mother, a mother who doesn't squash Lilly's warm loving confident personality, but a mother who loves you more and who needs to obey your word and raise Lilly in the way she go.