"Fear drives. Love leads."

~Emily Freeman

I came across this a few weeks ago and it struck a chord. I can be a very fear driven person. Fear of what other people think. Fear of what it will mean to fail. Fear of rejection. It's a long list. And I've realized that I can sometimes use fear to drive my children towards good behavior. It's so easy to say, "Do this or such and such will happen," or "If you don't stop that right now, I'm going to..."
I drive my kids with fear.
I want to learn how to lead my kids with love. I want them to honor and respect people because they have hearts that are turned towards God and filled with love, not because they are fearful of the consequences.
I'm not 100% sure of what it looks like to lead with love. It's another part of being a parent that I don't understand. Another place where I might mess up a lot before I start to get it right. But, thankfully I have three kids to practice on and the rest of my life to figure it out. And maybe along the way I might learn how to let love take the lead in my life as well, rather than the fear.

photo by: NgKKH  http://www.flickr.com/photos/ngkkh_studio/6848643/