Parenting with Grace:Confession

Parenting with Grace:Confession

I've been reading this book, "Parenting with Grace" by Gregory Popcack for the past several months. It really is an interesting read and I wish I could devour it more but I hardly have time to read it. It's more like a page a day for me. It's working out fine for me though. I think it's just how God wants me to go through it. This way, I'm able to let the lessons and insights I gain from the book really stew within me before moving on to the next lesson or insight.

There are a lot of parenting books out there but what drew me to this particular book is that it is written from a Catholic perspective. And as I draw parenting lessons from these pages, I also gain insight on my own relationship with my heavenly Father. I've had a number of "lightbulb" moments reading this book! I was only on the 2nd page of the Introduction when I first had that "lightbulb" moment.

The author was explaining what parenting lesson we can learn from the Church. He says that our "Mom", the Church has very high and clear expectations for our behavior. However, when we fail, she is an "extremely gentle disciplinarian". The author characterizes the penance we receive at confession as "an invitation to spend some time seated at the lap of our Mother, before our heavenly Father, who showers us with a love so profound that we cannot help but be made better by it." OMG! I was absolutely floored by that image! I am such a visual person and that image just blew me away. WOW! I've always had the impression that the penance was some sort of punishment but this made much more sense. And as a mother, I can totally relate. I can imagine myself at both ends - as the child who is penitent and repentant and also as the mother who consoles her child who is sorry for what she's done.

I think that after reading that I have become gentler with my kids too, not lenient because I still expect them to follow the rules of the family, just more forgiving when they fail.