Who's holding your bike?

As I proudly stood watching Avery learn how to ride his bike I was reminded of something a friend of mine was talking about the other day; "When we fall, our Father just picks us up, dusts us off, kisses the boo-boos, and says, 'Good job! Now, let's do it again!'"
Our Father is so proud of our efforts! He sees our mistakes as an opportunity to show His unfailing mercy and love for us, encouraging us to not give up! His tenderness often catches me off guard because my own words to myself are often completely opposite. "How could you do that again, Serenity? Haven't you learned by now? If you keep messing up with this, you might as well quit."
Mothering is one of those bikes I am pretty wobbly on. I have had many opportunities to see God's mercies and love for me. :) I get impatient, disrespectful, unkind and selfish, A LOT! And I often feel like I need to come groveling to God because my actions and behaviors have made me feel so ashamed. But you see, something I often forget is that Jesus Christ lives in me, His One and Only Son lives in me! So, actually He is seeing His Son in me- that is why there is NO CONDEMNATION in Christ Jesus. Once we have Jesus living in us, our Father loves us as He loves His Son. He sees and interacts with the pure and blameless Jesus who lives in Serenity. I have nothing to do with it. What a gift! And all those times I mess up and come to Him, He sees His Son and can't wait to kiss my boo-boos. Instantly the sin is forgotten, wiped away, poof- gone!

Thank you for this Truth, Father. May we all have more revelation of Your Son, Jesus, who lives in those of us who believe! I'm praying for all of us parents to take every opportunity to show mercy and love to our children. Lets bring up a generation who knows more of our sweet, Heavenly Father who picks us up when we fall, gives us a big grin, pats our bottoms, and gets us back on track!