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Not Again, Always
We are created in God’s image, not the other way around
Do you ever ascribe to God the flawed human qualities you see in yourself so often? Because I sure do. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if He watches me from His throne, watching me make the same bad choice, or wind my way into a corner I hoped to avoid, or repeating a mistake, and thinking to Himself, Again, my child? Really. Again?
My experiential and relational knowledge of God know this is not how He sees me, nor does He think like this when He watches me mess up, fall down, and have to try again.
Even so, I ascribe my thoughts to Him. How can He not get tired of me and this endless circle of screwing up, coming to Him and telling Him I’m sorry, and asking Him to forgive me, only to do it again. And again. And again.
When our girls were younger and we were laying a foundation of gentle parenting, it involved a lot of get-off-your-butt (GOYB) and lather-rinse-repeat moments. It didn’t matter whether it was scripting the words they should use instead of screaming and tantruming, or redirecting them from something they weren’t allowed to do, or any number of other things with which we chose to guide them with unconditional love and scream-free parenting, it was a lot of work. (For the record, we didn’t always do this as well as we wanted, and…
