This is my time-out for the day. :)

  In all my dealings with children, I find myself learning how to be a parent more and more, and at the same time learning more about myself and God's relationship with me.
  I try really hard to follow my own advice, the most significant of which being "Make good choices." I tell that to my kids aaaaalll the time, and they know when I say that it means they should think before they act in a way they know I will reprimand them for.  If I tell one of my kids not to scream in the house, and they go right back into the living room and let rip an ear-piercing squeal, its immediately obvious that they have made a wrong choice. When it comes to my own, more adult actions and decisions, however, things get messy. My brain tends to rationalize my actions and make right and wrong seem complicated, blurring the lines so most everything is grey; but if I'm honest with myself, sometimes I just flat out make bad choices. There are days when I have to say, "Mol, you're not making good choices today. You need to straighten up or go to time-out." It comes down to self-control, which I can tell you is a skill that can be applied to most of my life's issues at this point. Needless to say, I'm working on its development.
  Something you learn really quickly when working with kids under age 10 is to keep the directions SIMPLE. The kids are not going to get much more than a snooze if you try to give them a paragraph-style lecture on how to make their craft.  You have to take things one step at a time, one simple task at a time, and while its often easy for the kids to see the end result, sometimes they can't tell what the whole picture is going to look like, and in their ignorance they try to jump ahead. I feel like this is exactly how God works with me sometimes. He can see what the finished product of my life is going to be, and He gives me simple tasks and simple instructions to help me get there.  Too often I play the independent 6-year-old and want to skip ahead; but continually He reminds me that I am nothing and He is everything, I am a servant to my Master, and He will lead me through each step of the process if I stop over-thinking everything and let Him take me. This type of patience is very hard to come by, and I can see more clearly than I'd like to that God is veeery gradually teaching it to me in all its forms.
  Patience and self-control. I'm getting there.