"And you parents, do not make your children angry, but bring them up according to the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Ephesians 6: 4
When you truly love someone, two key attributes will show up on a regular basis: patience and kindness. What's more, many other characteristics of love rely on these two attributes. Patience is the way that love dilutes something negative; kindness is your way of starting something positive. One breathes deeply, the other breathes life. As you know, raising children requires an unlimited supply of both. But today, we will focus on the first of these two essential qualities "Patience."
Patience is seen when love decides to constantly sacrifice itself for the good of another person. Like the farmer who knows that the fields bear fruit if he is willing to endure the heat of the sun. Or like the wise builder who spends hours hard at work on plans, negotiating and supervising the progress of the work. Both the farmer and the builder must persist and overcome adverse circumstances that appear along the way. Every day they must invest time and effort until they can celebrate the ample harvest or the inauguration.
In this same way, you are cultivating and edifying your children, and all your effort and sacrifice. Children have the incredible ability to test their parents' level of patience with tone, disobedience, irresponsibility, or lack of respect. Sometimes parents get so angry that they say or do something in the heat of the moment that it hurts young hearts and minds. The impact can leave a deep scar for many years.
We must not lose our temper to stop our children. Seeing that we control our anger teaches them to control their own. The scripture declares: "If you are angry, do not sin" (Eph.4.26). Sometimes anger is justified, but we should never let it get out of hand. Discipline and correction should be dispensed wisely and always after loving patience. Love decides to hold back. Love controls your emotions instead of allowing them to dominate you. It challenges you to develop patience instead of breaking out over anything. If you react in a hurry, love reminds you to humble yourself and ask for forgiveness quickly, acknowledging all that is at stake.
Anger, on the other hand, is cruel (Pr 27.4). Divide and isolate. It weakens us and hurts others. It makes us behave in foolish and deplorable ways. It rarely makes things better and often creates additional problems. Sometimes anger is rooted in our own sin or hypocrisy. What makes us angrier about our children are the very areas of weakness that we struggle with. Patience is always welcome. It gives people more time to solve their problems. Gracefully dissipate the conflict before the problem escalates. Whisper peace to situations that are on the verge of exploding. It is not a general form of tolerance that overlooks anything, but rather a wise inspector of the situation, allowing the necessary steps to be taken.
In parenting, it is necessary to act against indifference and rebellion, but distinguish between true rebellion and what may be childish ignorance. Our children don't think like us, so why do we expect them to act like us? We must take into account their circumstances, their age and their level of maturity. So instead of turning you on and bringing you down, let love calm you down. Then you can build them. The more patient you are today, the more victories you can celebrate tomorrow.