There are no perfect parents

No one. No one who is human can say that they have been a perfect father or mother. The only perfect father is the Heavenly Father who is in heaven. We will always have to aim for his model, so that glory will always be only for him.

There is no mother, there is no father who does not sin. None of us can say, "I never made a mistake about my children." But, you know that God understands this very well. And God's grace, His favor, extends to you, imperfect parent. When we feel inadequate at the end of the day regarding our parenthood, let's take two aspirin, lay our head on the pillow and say, "Lord, I trust Your grace, I trust Your mercy."

It helps a lot to recognize that we cannot go back in time. Perhaps we made serious mistakes as parents before we knew the gospel message. Perhaps our own parents, whom we revere and once considered proper models of parenthood, made serious mistakes with us, and we ignorantly transfer those mistakes to the upbringing of our own children. Only much later, in the light of God's Word, did we understand our mistakes. But already, unfortunately, we had hurt our children. Perhaps we will have to ask our children for forgiveness and admit to them that we failed.

But we cannot live life punishing ourselves for mistakes we made out of ignorance. When we come to the feet of the Lord, he tells us, “Don't worry. I know you have made a lot of mistakes. Let's start working together to straighten the kinks of the past. My Spirit will make sure that you do not fail in that endeavor. "

The first thing we have to say is, “I regret it. I know I failed. I want to do better ”. Perhaps, as we said before, you will have to ask your children for forgiveness. This will be a good step towards your healing.

But the moment has to come when you abandon yourself to the grace and mercy of the Lord, and recognize that being a father, being a mother, is the most inhuman task that exists in the universe. Inhuman in the sense that only the divine can perform proper parenting. It is a task that God has entrusted to us in which nobody gets an “A”. No one. We will never be able to execute it perfectly.

But what good is it to know that we have a merciful Father, who specializes in straightening broken bones and correcting scars so that they are not noticed over time! Abandon yourself to the mercy of your loving Father, who forgives and restores you. Do not live in the past. Look confidently into the future, and believe that even your mistakes God will use to bless your home and give your children a blessed future and life. Certainly, "those who love God, all things work together for good." Even the mistakes of the past!