I am Finished...

I have come to a point in my life where I am extremely discouraged with the terrible attitude displayed by others toward me lately. I have been judged to be a sub-par human by more people in the last 4 weeks than I have ever encountered in my twenty-six years of life. I am done. I will not stand for it any more. From now on, no one may tell me that I am a bad mother because my child sleeps in a crib. A crib is not "baby jail", a crib is not evil. A crib is not going to cause my child to die suddenly in their sleep. No one knows what causes SIDS. I will no longer tolerate being told I am terrible because of the choices I have made in the raising of my child. I will no longer be told that I can't take care of myself as a woman because I am a mother. I am both. I am a woman, and a mother. I am a mother and wife. Both relationships are important and I will spend time on both relationships. If that means leaving my toddler with a trusted babysitter for a few hours so my husband and I can go out, so be it. Do not judge me for taking care of my marriage.
I will no longer tolerate being gossiped about. The minute I hear of someone speaking ill of me or my family behind our backs, I will go to them and lovingly confront them as is exemplified in Matthew 18:15. If that is not received then I will react with following Matthew 18:16 and bringing another party in on it. And if that still is not received then I will go to the church with no hesitation. It's people from church doing it anyway, so hopefully it won't get to that point. But I cannot continue to live my life in fear of these people and what they might say.
I will no longer tolerate the attitude of believers towards one another. I will no longer allow it to be swept out of sight, but rather shine light on it so that the sin can be dealt with. When someone judges me based on my appearance (as happened last night when I was told I was not going to "get into heaven" because I have pierced ears), I will lovingly remind them that man looks at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
I will no longer respond to someone speaking in anger, but will rather encourage them to correct in love if it must be done. I will not grovel before people who are too immature to accept an adult's sincere apology. If they do not accept a sincere and godly apology then I will shake the dust off my feet and be done with them (while still loving and praying for them to come around).
I have reached the point where I cannot ignore these things any longer. Christians have HORRENDOUS attitudes, especially toward one another. It is disturbing to finally be in a place where I am seeing what the non Christians are talking about. I have never been in a place where Christians are so unloving toward one another. It is shocking, and it is heart breaking. Something must be done. That is why I am finished with looking the other direction while everyone eats each other for breakfast. To quote Derek's current favorite movie "I didn't come this far to be breakfast!" (Finding Nemo)

One More Rant...

Ok, maybe I'm the only one bothered by this but every tine I see someone suggesting that a child be drugged for no medical reason I freak out. For example: a friend's Facebook status this morning was asking for tips on a long car trip with two very small children. Most responses were decent enough but there's always that one person who says "Benadryl!" WHAT????? Ok seriously, I know my friend is smart enough not to do that but it really pisses me off. How bout we tranquilize you? Childrens' bodies are so tiny and at very young ages (under the age of four) their systems are still underdeveloped. This is why you can't give a child under 4 cold medicine. This is why Robitussin can't be given to children under age 6. The amount of medicine could literally poison a child. So that being said, don't medicate your children just to shut them up!!! How stupid and lazy can a parent be? You chose to have children and that means putting up with them on car trips if you choose to take them. Now let me clarify that I'm not against medication. I give Derek infant Tylenol (or whatever the knockoff is) when he is in pain. If your child has allergies and your doctor says its ok and gives you the correct dosage then by all means give your child Benadryl. Use medication for its intende2d purpose, not for a tranquilzer.

Ok. Rant over. Anyone out there agree with me? Or am I going nuts?