The Green-Eyed Monster

This week, my morning devotion has been on jealousy...the green-eyed monster. Maybe God was preparing me for what we are just now starting to face with our girls!! Here's what breakfast was like this morning (and trust me, the pics are much tamer than the actual sounds of "uh! uh!" emitting from our kitchen! ha!):

Savannah wants Madeline's banana peel.  Yes, her banana peel!

Madeline wants Savannah's Cheerio's...even though she has her own Cheerio's on her tray.

Girls.  Now listen up.  This is getting out of control.

OK.  We'll try to do better...but my goodness her Cheerio's look SO MUCH better than mine!

Ok girls.  Time for a pep talk from your momma.

Madeline and Savannah.  In just two days, you'll be turning 16 months old.  In two months, you'll be a year and a half old!  How is it humanly possible that at such a young age, when your outside influences haven't been much more than each other and family and friends that love you very much, that you already are comparing what the other one has and doesn't have, and fighting over it?  So, here goes.

Life is not fair.  Things will happen to one of you that won't happen to the other - both good things, and bad things.  There will be times when one might get a special present, and the other will get an equally special present but they will be different.  Why?  Because the two of you are unique.  As you continue to grow, you will have your own special interests and gifts that God has given you that makes you YOU!  Madeline, you may want to be a guitar player, and Savannah, you may want to play the piano.  Now, if Savannah likes playing the piano and Madeline likes playing the guitar, would it really be "fair" to give you both a guitar?  No!  And would it really be a good idea if we scratched both ideas and gave you both a flute instead, just to be fair?  No!

Girls....this is only the beginning.  But, it is my job, my mission, my sole purpose in life as your mother to do this:  I want to raise you both to have a heart like His.  This is a huge responsibility as your mother.  God has entrusted the two of you to mine and your daddy's care, and it is up to us to teach you what your heavenly Father is like and how to be more like Him.  That, my sweet girls, is the key to this life we all have here on this earth.  I want to teach you both to have a servant's heart and a generous spirit.   I pray that you will have hearts that will not constantly compare as you grow older.  The Bible tells us that "No one should seek his own good, but the good of others." (1 Cor 10:24).

Girls, as you grow older, if you learn to have a heart that desires the good of others over your own, you will be amazed at the peace that will fill your hearts.  Proverbs 14:30 tells us that a heart of peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bone!  Oh my sweet girls...the next few years are going to be lots of fun teaching you this principle, but with God's help and His teaching me the same, I will do my best to be a mother that strives to, in turn, teach you beautiful, precious baby girls how to have a heart like His. 

Love,

Mommy