Closed Door Parenting

This is by NO means a good or suggested method of parenting!  Frustration and defeat may have driven me to it.  This very morning, I heard the arguing turn into fighting.  As it escalated, I had an option:  I could let the temperature of my blood escalate with them to a rolling boil OR I could close the door and turn up some classical music.  

And thus, the closed door parenting method was born.  Behind that door my thoughts traversed through a battlefield.  Cannons shot through my head with sounds of "I'm not a good mother!"  "I have failed in training them up in the LORD!" 
Dangerous explosions that paralyzed my ability to carry on in the job that began with a rod in my pocket following toddlers around the house!

When the time came to re-surface and face the duties of the day, Scripture met me there.  

Galatians 6:9New Living Translation (NLT)

9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.

Philippians 1:6New Living Translation (NLT)

6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

I may still need to close that door once in awhile especially as I approach the day of 3 full blown teenage girls.  But, that is okay as long as I reach out to the knob of the door equipped with verses like this: 

Philippians 3:14New International Version (NIV)

14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

and this (because I can't do it, but HE can):

1 John 4:13New Living Translation (NLT)

13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.