Promises - Trustworthiness

2 Samuel 7:28 "You are God! Your words are trustworthy" We know that we can count on everything the God says to be truth. He is trustworthy. His yes is yes and His no is no. How about you? As your child's primary teacher, what are they learning from you about keeping your word. Sometimes you may be tempted to promise something just to pacify your child for the moment, but if you don't follow through with what you have promised, you are teaching your child that you don't have to mean what you say. Be careful what you promise or threaten. You should be prepared to do it. The hardest thing I ever did was follow through on a promise/consequence that I had told my oldest son. He had a particularly bad year in school. He was goofing off and not applying himself. I told him that the family was going to go to a Las Vegas resort right after school got out and that he would not be able to go if his teachers didn't report improvement in his attitude and grades. Sure enough with tears streaming I drove away with my other kids and left him with his Dad. I wanted all of them with me. We had only taken a few vacations since the divorce and I really wanted some great memory making that summer. I remember meeting with his dad before I made my final decision. He said, "you have to do it. He earned and you have to follow through with what you said". (You would have to know him to understand how ironic this moment was for me) But, he was right. It wasn't about the performance in school anymore, it was about being true to my word. Think before you lay down a consequence. Be prepared to enforce it. If you promise to go to a game, go! Now things happen beyond our control and children need to learn that also. If you don't make it to the afore mentioned game because the car broke or whatever, use this as a teachable moment. Children need to learn that not everything is within our control and that God is ultimately in control. All things work together for good, even missed games. Live with integrity, be trustworthy, be ready for teachable moments. WHAT A RIDE! PARENTING!