Be the person I want them to be

I catch myself day dreaming, at times, about the future.

A lot of the time the future of my children.

Who will they be? What will they love? 

I wonder what personality traits they'll have from me and what they'll have from their daddy. 

I imagine them to be a certain way, to be certain people. 

My heart hopes for it. Desperately wants it.

I want them to be compassionate. 

To care for people in such a way that when others hurt, they hurt right along with them. 

To be a shoulder to lean on, an ear to listen. 

To pray for others and want the best for people. 

I want them to be kind to everyone they meet and be a good friend.

I want them to love their neighbor and be forgiving. 

I want them to have faith. Faith that can move mountains. 

Faith that no matter what happens, is still there. 

I want them to believe without a doubt that God is there and that He died for them.

 I want them to know that regardless of their sin, God loves them and He always will. 

That His love is all they need. 

I want them to read the Bible and know the wisdom that can be found there. 

I want them to cry out to God. I want them to know grace and give grace. 

I want them to listen to God and do what He tells them. 

I want them to have a relationship with Him.

To know that its the most important relationship they can ever have. 

I want them to grow in that, to never stop knowing Him, 

to never stop being faithful to the One who has been faithful to them.

I want them to know that they are loved. 

That no matter what they do, no matter who they are, they are loved by their parents. 

I want them to know that they mean the world to me, that making me a mama was the best thing. I want them to know that they will always be enough, the will always be precious and important. 

I want them to be honest. With themselves and others. I want them to never be afraid of being who they truly are. I want them to be true to themselves and never let anyone make them feel as if they shouldn't be. 

I want them to have goals and passions. 

I want them to persure their dreams and not let anything hold them back. 

I want them to want to learn, to know that they are capable of doing whatever they want in life. 

I want them to never give up. 

I want them to be happy and full of joy. 

To not think that, that comes from having things or being a certain way, 

But to know that those things... real joy, real happiness, comes from God. 

I want them to be so much. 

I'm realizing thought that they aren't magically going to become these people in the future. 

The work for them to become those people starts now. And it starts with James and I. 

Now, is the time for us to shape their little hearts and minds. 

In all honestly that scares me...

Because I know in order for them to be the people I want them to be, 

they need to see these things in us as their parents. 

And sometimes these things aren't present in our lives or not as they should be. 

So I'm trying to work on these things because my children need to see them. 

I'm working on being kinder, loving, honest, joyful and having a better relationship with Jesus. 

I hope my kids see it and grasp it tight.