Mini Me

"But I don't want to wear these!" my 3 year old whines as she tries to kick off her "new" yard sale Baby Gap sandals.
"Well, " I answer back, "You're not wearing those!" I point in disdain to the dirty pink "outside" flip flops that are dangling from her fingers.
"But I want to wear my pink ones!" she negotiates.
"No" I say. End of negotiations.
What happens next? My little blessing begins to wail like she just found out our DSL was disconnected (those that know Lillie Anna's love for the computer will understand how that could be a crisis for her.) She chucks her flip flops across the room and screams ,"I'm sick of this!" I can't help it. I start laughing...hysterically, which only makes her more angry. Then she shrieks "I can't stand the way you act sometimes!", turns on her heels and storms off. I pause for a moment and say to myself "where did that come from?" To find the answer, I would have to look no further than a mirror. She sounds just like me after I've been to Wal-Mart with all three of the kids.
This was a sobering thought. What else has she gotten from me that will embed itself into her character. Maybe more important is , what hasn't she gotten?
I say Jesus is the best thing that has ever happened to me (and he is), but when I pray half heartily, fail to read His Word, grumble and complain, will she believe it?
I say its a privilage to be a wife and homemaker (and it is) but when Jody makes me mad and I fail to show him the respect he deserves as my husband, when I lose my temper, when I complain about the laundry and having to take out the trash, will she believe it?
I say children are a blessing (and they are). But when her and Jack are bickering because one another exists and Chloe's screaming because she doesn't understand that bottles don't make themselves the second she asks for one, and in my frustration I fail to be kind and gentle or say something too harshly, will she believe it?
Will Lillie, and Chloe for that matter, from seeing my actions and hearing my words, desire to be a wife, a mother, and most importantly, a Christian?
Ephesians 6:4 says,"And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the fear and admonition of the LORD." I think I'd be safe in saying that goes for mothers as well.