"I've told you 10 times to clean your room! Why is it so hard for you to do what I ask, the first time that I ask?"

Yes, I said that. I was frustrated because I had asked my son several times to clean his room, yet he continued to stall and make excuses. And when he finally did, he made sure it was on his own time. But, as soon as these words parted my lips, I immediately felt this awful feeling gush over me. The Holy Spirit then lovingly corrected me with, "Why do you expect something from him that you do not do yourself?".

Ouch. That statement threw me for a loop. I then began asking the Lord what He meant by that. I mean, what did I not do that I was supposed to be doing? Cleaning my room? Sure, I slack on that sometimes too, but I was almost certain that wasn't the real issue here. I was right. That wasn't the issue. No, it was deeper. Before I knew it, I was flooded with memories of all the times God has asked me to do something, yet I make excuses as to why I couldn't do it. Or, when I did eventually do it, (after several bids, mind you) it was in my timing with my terms and conditions.

The truth is, like the Word of God says, one reaps what one sows. God was showing me through the actions of my children that I was sowing disobedience, therefore, as you guessed it, I was also reaping it. He also taught me that delayed obedience is still disobedience. Yeah, that one took a while to sink in.

So, while I was getting frustrated with my child for his lack of obedience, I should have been looking in the mirror at my own. When we take a look at the people who are close to us in life and get frustrated by their actions, we need to first do a self evaluation in the light of Gods Word and make sure that we aren't the ones that actually need to improve.

Think about it. When you are negative all the time, you attract negative people. As it is the same with disobedience. If you are always making excuses as to why you can not do what God has asked you to do, or even when you delay in your response to His instructions, you can expect to be given the same behavior by those around you. And The best part is that this lesson applies to parenting as well. If your kids are 'acting a fool', you may need to step back like I did/do and evaluate if you are treating God the same way.

Now, I'm not saying that everyone's bad conduct can be traced back to your own short comings. But I am saying that we need to be aware that what we are dispersing to the world is a direct correspondence to what our relationship with God looks like; and if it's anything other than motivated by love, it needs to be fixed.