I will ALWAYS love you.

I remember quite vividly a long time ago when I was like...8 or 9 a specific instance after my sister and I were fighting. I was sent to my room and was laying on my bed and Mom was standing in the doorway when I said, "I wish I didn't have a sister!". For which Mom responded...."Some day you'll learn to appreciate her." and I, being all mad and upset said "No I won't". Mom just looked at me and said, "Some day you'll regret saying that." Even though I already did....as soon as the words had come out of my mouth.

Today I found myself for the first time in the opposite role, though it wasn't exactly a brother thing. I thought I handled the "you're not my best friend" thing from Seth pretty well, but today he pulled out the "I don't like you!" and "You're not my Mommy!" retorts because he was mad he had to take a bath instead of watching tv. All I could think about to respond was, "Seth, I will ALWAYS be your Mommy and you don't have to like me, but you do need to know that I will ALWAYS LOVE you no matter what. But that won't change the fact that you are dirty and need a bath!" And again later, while putting him to bed, he pulled out the "I don't like you" and "I don't love you". I really didn't know how to react at that point. It was really hurtful, and getting to me. I didn't know whether to be mad at him for being disrespectul, or express to him that his words can hurt, or just ignore him and put him to bed anyways. What to do?

Anyhow, once they were finally asleep I made a getaway to the grocery store (don't worry Dave was home) and had some time to think about it. It made me really understand how God must feel when we get angry with him, or turn against him, or try to disobey him. He loves us even more then even I love my children....which, frankly, seems almost impossible, but true. Our words and actions have absolutely no bearing on the amount of love he has for us, even if we tell him we don't want him. BUT, God does have rules and requires us to obey them, and they are for our own good! Sometimes we just have to get in the tub and get clean.