Labeling your Child

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23

I was sitting in bed feeding my two months old daughter and thinking about the night we just had… let’s go back a little; so, we are sleep training, well, staying/sleeping in your own room and bed type of training for our first born who is four years old. And this process has proven to be a little challenging. Josiah sleeps with us on and off until now at the age of four, and previously we loved it but he is older now and mommy and daddy need back their space, but he is not having it… we get up several times (more so my husband than me because I am usually up with the baby) in the night  to put him back in his room and bed. So last night I took him back to his room and told him “you are a big boy, go to bed!” He began fussing and woke up his younger brother, so his dad had to go in his room and lay down with him in order for him to fall back asleep. 

Fast forward to my morning’s devotion. I began reflecting on the event of the night and one of the first thoughts that popped into my head was “Josiah is just a problem.” I didn’t say his behavior was becoming problematic or that the situation is problematic; rather I called him the problem. I did not finish my thought before the Holy Spirit revealed to me that therein lies the problem.  

You see, as moms and wives, we subconsciously and consciously label our children and spouses, and it is with these labels that we respond and react to them-which is often times negative. The word of God reminds us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that we are to “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Before our words are spoken, they first become thoughts. However, by subjecting our thoughts to God, we eliminate the negative labels we place on our children and spouses. 

I know this will not happen overnight but if we are prayerful and purposeful, God will give us the strength we need to overcome. So my sisters, wives and mommies in Christ, let us practice daily teaching our minds to think positively-to choose better words to describe our children and spouse even when we are angry.

Scripture Meditation 

“However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.” 1 Corinthians 2: 9-10

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”Romans 12:2