Echo

As a father I have, many times, heard my tone or the harsh words come out of my mouth only to totally regret it immediately after. Most of my life I have had a short fuse and it comes out with my kids too often. I mean, kids can be a bit... um... trying, I guess. If you ever wanted to work on your patience or the ever popular "long-suffering" then I supposed having a large family is the perfect thing for you. I remember my mom saying to my older brother one time something about God is helping you learn patience and he replied, "I didn't ask to learn patience."

Anyway... If I thought the regret of saying harsh things or saying things harshly was bad, now I hear the same words or tone echoed from my kids sometimes. That really hurts. I have passed on this short-tempered, unguarded tongue thing to my kids and it hurts my stomach when I think of that. I wonder, "Is it too late to fix it?" Well, I don't actually know. I have to fix it in myself first before it can be fixed in them. Something to think about and work on.