A No Mom

I have been trying to keep up with my journaling. I was doing really well for like two weeks, don't they say if you do something for 21 days it becomes a habit? Well, I didn't quite make it that far! That third week just did me in. I picked it up Saturday night, and it had been over three weeks since I had made an entry! Time just flies on by. But as I was writing out what I did that day, a thought came to my mind about how often I tell my children "no". For example, that evening, and many previous evenings, my daughters have been asking for hot chocolate. Now to me, it seems totally illogical to want hot chocolate when it's triple digits outside. But they had been asking and I had been continually refusing. Mostly because they would want it in the evening, just before bed, and I would be tired, and just ready to go to bed myself. But Saturday evening, I told myself that I would make them hot chocolate. And they were so excited. And it really didn't take that much extra time. And the girls just sat around in their chairs with their little mugs, talking and sipping their hot chocolate. It was actually quite cute.
But I felt this nudge in my spirit about how often I say no to my kids. Often because I don't feel like it, or I am busy doing not very important things....like facebook for instance, or checking email, or just anything with the computer. It can totally be a time waster and drainer. And I was then quite humbled by the thought of how often God says yes to me. He says yes to me far more then no. Of course, there are definitely things that I would like or want, for totally selfish reasons, and He has said no to some of those things, but really, He is a yes God. We just take so much for granted, our eyes are veiled to how much He extravagantly pours his love and adoration upon us.
So I really want to try and be more of a  yes mom.....obviously within reason.  But when Charlotte sees her sisters swinging themselves on the playset and wants to swing and asks me, I need to say yes more often. Or when Larissa asks me to play piano, I need to say yes. I want her to learn how to play and to enjoy music, and how will that happen unless I do it with her? And when Alaina asks me to change her Ariel doll's clothes for the twentieth time that day (who makes these things? They are obviously not thinking about those of us who are constantly being asked to change outfits because our little girls fingers can't do it. They need to rethink their strategy...seriously.) I need to bite my tongue and help her out. Dying to our flesh is a daily thing. it will never go away, but as we do it more often, it will become easier.
Besides, I don't want to look back someday and regret that I didn't spend more time with them when they were younger. Because there will come a day when they will stop asking if I keep saying no.