This year I am working more on ME and things that the Lord is placing on my heart to change. I have been so frustrated, lonely, depressed and even alienated myself from gatherings because I have been too stressed or too overwhelmed to cope. Well…no more!! With the Lord’s help my life will be transformed and made new for the health of me and my family. At the beginning of January, I wrote a post about Giving Up and talked about my plan for the year and how I was going to work on giving up one thing a month that the Lord leads me to surrender.
Recently I have noticed some words and phrases my kids were saying that I am not particularly fond of. I would correct them over and over to no avail. Then, I realized they were repeating ME!! How can I teach them character traits of God and ask them to follow them, when I don’t? So in the spirit of giving things up, there are 12 words and phrases I am giving up in 2014.
Will it be easy? NO!
Will it be fun? Probably not!
Will it be worth it? ABSOLUTELY!!!!
While this will not be an easy task to complete or even follow through on a daily basis, I am committed to changing these things in my life to make it more pleasing and acceptable to Him!! And that’s what matters.
- Shut Up and Shut It – For the first few years of our oldest child’s life, this was a “No-No” phrase. We did not say it, we didn’t allow our son to say it. THEN…he turned 6 and started in with an attitude. All bets were off and I found myself saying it more and more. Sometimes I would catch myself and change my words, but now with four active and very talkative children it’s frequently the most used phrase-of-the-day. And when I don’t want to say it, I simply say “Shut…it!” That’s just another form of the same thing. So both are leaving my vocab! I don’t want my kids to say these to each other and it sure doesn’t convey respect or love to anyone.
- STOP!! – While this is a necessary phrase when keeping our kids from danger, it should not be the only thing my kids hear! If they hear this word all the time, they will become complacent to it’s meaning and won’t heed it’s warning when it’s truly warranted!! No parent wants that! No to mention that this seems to be my “go-to” phrase for anything they are doing that *ahem* don’t want to stop and take care of at that moment. It’s the truth…I admit it.
- QUIT – This is the beginning of nearly every. single. phrase. I use with my girls. They are in to everything!! I thought my boys were bad, but man oh man – I can hardly keep up with my girls most days. But it’s more than that. I use this phrase so much that I’m stifling their creativity, spontaneity and their God-giving spirits! THAT is not okay. So, I am working hard to change my vocabulary and use another word in place of this one. It’s not easy and sometimes I slip, but I’m determined.
- Butt – Yes. I know. This is one of those taboo words. The one no one speaks of. But, it’s another one of those words that has crept into my vocab over time. We did not allow our children to say this word. In fact, I still correct them when they do. However, I have caught myself saying it more and more when I’m talking about spanking them in regards to something they have done. Nevertheless, it’s not a word I want in my or my kids’ vocabulary.
- I’m DONE! – This is another one of my “go-to” phrases. (I have a lot of them apparently.) I use this frequently throughout the day when the kids are “getting on my nerves.” I recently read an article that really put this one into perspective. I signed up for this job of motherhood. I wanted to be a mother more than anything. I wanted to stay at home and really be the “model” mom and housewife. And now I just find myself getting annoyed when they are being well…kids! Rather than taking the time to stop and correct them…correctly and lovingly. Not hastily and with a catch-all phrase that tells them “I don’t have time for you right now.” That is not the message I want to send to my kids nor is it how I want them to feel. So it’s gone!
- Crap, Dangit, Dadgumit – Now I know these are “cuss words,” but they’re also not God-honoring words either! First of all they convey a sense of anger and frustration that I don’t necessarily want conveyed to my children. It also opens the door for other – more foul – language to creep it’s way into not only my verbal vocab, but also my mental vocab. You see…it’s not enough to simply hold my tongue – I need to wipe these words from my heart and mind. In order to do that, I’m going to need lots of help from the Lord and daily prayer to overcome what has become almost second nature to me.
Join me for Part 2 next week over at In All You Do, where I share the rest of the phrases I’m giving up in 2014.
Annette has been married to her husband and best friend for 10 years. Together they are raising their four children to follow the Lord’s will, no matter what. Annette longs for the day when she will meet her 5 angel babies who have entered heaven before her. She enjoys creating UNIT STUDIES with FREE PRINTABLES (more coming soon) for homeschool families and she gets her scrapbooking fix in by making Subway Art for herself and her readers. You can follow her crazy life at In All You Do where she blogs about homeschooling, gluten- and grain-free recipes, homemaking, the occasional DIY projects and maintaining her sanity. You can also keep up with her via Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.
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