Sure, hindsight is 20/20. And I can see now how all of this happened to me and for me. But there was a time that I lived on autopilot and just did what felt good in the moment. However, I truly never realized the just how much I was teaching my children about life until ONE DAY one of my kids, under the age of 4, made me a ‘pretend’ breakfast while my husband and I sipped coffee. He/she brought me a little play-set wine glass and coffee cup and said, “Here you go mommy!”
O U C H!
And ya know what!? That didn’t wake me up! I’m NOT proud to say this, but THEN, I saw it as 'cute' somehow! I did! Can you believe that!? I’m not at all proud of that; but GOD woke me up to the reality of the impact I was having on my children! They SAW what I was doing in all areas. I was TOTALLY asleep at the wheel and I was teaching my children how to sleepwalk through life. I taught them how to escape the troubles of this world through substance. Through my nightly glass(es) of wine, my evening consumption of snacks, my dieters remarks and my morning dependency on coffee. I never thought twice about ANY of this because the world supported my actions. T-shirts about ‘Mommy’s sippy-cup’ in the shape of a wine glass were hung in the stores. T-shirts saying that things like, “Mommy needs wine” or “Mommy needs wine because I whine” were all around me. This world TAUGHT me how to mother, talk, respond and live. If only someone would’ve stopped me and said, “Sherrie. No. You need God!” No one stopped me and told me this! No one EVER enlightened me to the fact that for as much as I was teaching my kids about numbing out this cruel world with substance, I was also teaching all three of them to diet and seek perfection in their bodies. Thank GOD that HE stopped me. He showed me what I couldn’t see. He continues to prove it to me too. You see, all this week, I kept hearing this blog post in my head. Something about wine glasses and coffee cups. And in my time with God (Because MORNINGS ARE FOR GOD now), I turned to Genesis 26:2-6. And there in THE BIBLE was the example I’d been hearing in my head and knew in my heart that I’d be writing about somehow. Go read it for yourself! Don’t take anyone’s word as gospel. Go read Gods word and you’ll see that in this chapter we are taught that parents help to shape the world’s future by the way they shape their children’s values. The first step toward helping children live right is for the parents to live right! Sneaking and hiding things from their view won’t work either. What we PUT IN; we get out. It either manifests in our personality, weight, joy, peace, patience or even in the ways we escape stress. Our actions are often copied by those closest to us. So, ask yourself, “What kind of example are am I setting for my children?” I nearly taught my kids how to run to coffee, wine and food for escape and pleasure. The minute God showed me how harmful my comments about food, about dieting and even how my consumption of alcohol was affecting my YOUNG KIDS, I dropped it all like a hot potato. All. Of. It. And do you wanna know what else the Bible says about our influence? It says, in that same scripture, that when we turn from doing what is wrong; we experience Blessings for our obedience. If God is telling YOU today to turn from this world, and the habits it has taught you; do it. Don’t walk from it, run from it. Light it all on fire. Pour it all down the drain. Don’t buy any more of it. And if it’s hard, you’re doing it without him. Seek HIS strength to overcome what is keeping you stuck as a prisoner of this world. Teach your children through your example. Strive for progress. Change your heart, change your mind, change your words, change your actions, change your life and influence theirs in the process. You can do this. I only know because I did it!
If you need a partner to help you step through the process; The Seekers Method will open again in Spring of 2020. Be sure to sign up for more information via my website: https://www.sherriekapala.com/seeker