Today I confessed my sin to a friend (and now to you).

I'm sorry to disappoint you but I don't have a major, juicy sin to confess. I just had one of those everyday, mom moments. Of course it had to do with my four year old BOY (do I need to say more?). OK, I guess I do need to tell you more. On Monday I just couldn't get my son moving to leave for preschool. It was one of those days that he found every reason to not get dressed. You know those kinds of days. He put his underwear on his head; he hid under the couch; he tired to make the cat fly; he tried to fly himself; and finally, he did the naked hiney dance for me (this was really not pretty- do yourself a favor and don't try to picture it). After some very stern words, he did manage to put on his clothes but that wasn't the end of his procrastination. We had shoes yet to go. My son thought it would be a good idea to have me put his shoes on while he was doing a headstand. Yeah, not such a good idea. Let me tell you that putting his shoes on upside down and backwards with only ONE cup of coffee in me wasn't going to happen. I felt like I was back in school taking the SAT's again. I flashed back to those math problems and froze. If you have one shoe pointed in the wrong direction and the feet are opposite of what you are used to, then which shoe goes on which foot? You can clearly see my problem with the shoes- right? (Just agree with me, it will make me feel better). Finally we were ready to go and I took a quick peek at my email- oops. I had received an unexpected email that, quite frankly, made me angry. It was too much and when we got in the car and he was again procrastinating, I yelled at my son. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I couldn't seem to stop. I quickly apologized but he still had tears on his face. I can really relate to Paul when he wrote in the Bible about doing the things that he didn't want to do and not following through the way he wanted. Do I need to tell you I felt terrible? Well this morning, a friend told me she had done the exact same thing to her four year old son who wouldn't get in the car and she felt terrible. I just want to grab her and tell her that it was OK. I knew how bad she felt. I hope I gave her some encouragement in telling her I messed up to; I certainly received some encouragement knowing that I wasn't the only one to loose my temper with my son. God has told us to confess our sins to others. I wondered this morning if one reason for that was to give others encouragement. It can give you courage to try and be better next time when you know you aren't the only one struggling. It is so easy to be discouraged when you see all of the wrong things you do. It is nice to know you aren't alone. I want to thank my friend today for being transparent with me. If she hadn't shared her story with me, I would probably still be feeling guilty for my actions. When you know that someone you respect also struggles with sin, it helps to put things in perspective. I know that next time I will take a breath before yelling at my son. I may still sin and yell when he doesn't deserve it, but I will not give up in my attempt to please God. Can you be transparent with anyone today? Can you give someone encouragement? Let them know that you have been there but you know next time they will do better. On behalf of all tired parents, please share your story- God may just be wanting to use your mis-step to help someone else today.