Parenting by Design Daily DevotionalSample

EXTENDING KINDNESS

When you find it difficult to parent your children with kindness, it is helpful to take a moment to look at your desires for your kids. Fleshly desires emerge when we believe a person's value depends on what he does, what he owns, and what others think of him. This is often reflected in the goals and expectations we have for our children. We crave the validation that worldly success brings more than we're willing to admit, and when our kids' actions or appearance fall short, we can become anxious, angry, and disappointed.

Kindness flows from knowing who we are in Christ. In Him, we are unconditionally loved and accepted with all our flaws. Grasping this reality gives us the freedom to be content because neither our kids nor we have anything to prove. We can accept our kids for who they are and let go of the world's performance-based sense of value.

We are more likely to extend kindness to our kids when we embrace our true identity in Christ.