Sin Management

Sometimes as a parent it can feel like I am like the mythical boy in Holland who plugged the hole in the dike in order to save his country from a flood. I am just barely holding back the onslaught.  One minute we are telling a boy not to hit the other boy, the next minute we are encouraging an older daughter to use kind words when instructing,  then we are teaching a boy not to hit back when he is hit.  Then we have to remind a child to say please, then we have to remind everyone, including the kids, to listen to one another when someone else is speaking.  Oh yes, and by the way, Be more joyful! Don't you realize there are kids way less fortunate than you, (someplace) ?   and don't forget to tell mom thanks for supper... it goes on and on.  
This is not going to be another blog telling you to hug your kids more.  There are enough of those- I think the main thing that our kids need to know is what to do with what is wrong with their soul. Sin needs more than management or improvement- it needs forgiveness,  it needs justice, it needs to be dealt with.  It needs to be called what it is. It ruins everything.  It spoils us- makes us rotten, it ruins relationships- and then we become really good at blaming others for what is our mess. Who will help us? 
Our kids, my family I, need to grasp how desperately we need to be forgiven and how I will use any advantage I can to try to shape the world around me to my liking, rather than seeing my place in the world as God's bondservant and other people as my neighbor God calls me to serve. There is always a reason why they should serve Me, why they are more guilty, or not as spiritual, etc.  
     The incarnation of our Lord- the one who humbled himself and became a servant of all- in order to free us from our bondage of self serving, self justifying, self defending hearts, is what my kids (I) need. They need to know that Jesus has come for them.   
So we will keep pointing out their sin.  We will keep teaching. We must. It is our calling. We also get to teach about and model by our own repentance  and love of The Remedy for our sinful hearts. Jesus.  The one who is full of grace and truth.  The boy in the manger who is the Savior of the World.