Sunny Sunday,,Go Back to Sleep? Lead By Example!!

Today is very sunny already for this great Sunday.  Once again, and shame on me no excuses, I did not make it to church. I was awake at 7:30 and could have gotten up and got around but I chose to go back to sleep.  When I woke up again it was too late..not good.  I know God understands and He will forgive me but deep inside I am feeling VERY guilty.  I am not doing a good job of leading by example to my family...I will try harder to be better at that..leading by example!!
Which brings me to my subject..leading by example.  So many time, each and every day, we see, hear, feel how everyone around us acts.  Are they doing a good job "leading by example".  For the most part no.  While watching these "reality" shows I sit there and laugh and make comments and some of them I'll watch again, some I won't.  We wonder why the youth of today act the way they do?  Well we need not look much farther than ourselves and the EXAMPLE(s) we lead.   We let our children watch these reality shows on TV, while we sometimes sit there with them.  We also let our children, speak their minds, because that is what society says we should do. What I hear coming out their mouths today is what we hear coming out of the mouths of those "reality stars".  We don't "spank" our children anymore, we give "time-outs" or have discussions with them.  For the most part those discussions go in one year and out the other.
Which brings me to an incident that happened at our home.  We had family and friends over and we were all out front playing.  We happen to be lucky with a deep set front yard so there is plenty of room to play and not go near the street.  However one particular little boy (he is now a teen) went near the street.  His parents informed him to not go past the sidewalk again..the cars tend to go OVER 25mph on our street.  Few minutes later he did it again and again he was told to not go past the sidewalk.  The next venture he was just going off the curb into the street.  At that point the dad pulled him aside and set him on the porch for a "time-out" and a discussion.  Now I must state at the time he was about 4-5 years old.  Time-out was over in a few minutes and again a few minutes later he was off the curb.  Again a discussion started..at that point I informed the child if he did it again he would be getting a spanking from ME as I did not want to see him get hit and hurt by a car. Did I overstep my "boundaries"? To some people yes I did but to others I did not because I showed that child that I cared enough, even though they did not understand at the time.  The child did not go past the curb again.
Where am I going with this example:  I was leading by example.  I pointed out that I did not go past the sidewalk, that the cars would hit him if he went out in the street and he would get hurt and lastly because I cared enough if he could not listen I would give him a spanking.  I did it with my kids and one good spank they stayed out of the street.  I not saying to beat your kids...but a good spanking is teaching them boundaries, grounding them as they get older, gives them boundaries.  You can have a discussion when your children get older because by that time they will grasp what you are truly saying!! We have stepped away from TELLING our children what is right and wrong we are letting THEM make decisions too early and that is my opinion!! 
But thru the years I see that I've gotten away from leading by example.  I sleep in, when I should be up, I allow my teens to watch programs I really don't approve of, I swear and complain and more.  And I am seeing what I do and have done come out in them. 
Today I vow that I am going to do better leading by example..getting back to the examples that I lead with when they were younger.  We can't go back, we can only go forward.  We can't forget but we can forgive and understand the errors our children have made..we can and should LEAD BY EXAMPLE.  Even if it means just starting one little example..maybe turn off the TV and play a game.  God is like that with us, he forgives and goes forward with us knowing that we can and will do better.  He continues to always LEAD BY EXAMPLE because He gave us the Bible AND He is also that little voice in our heads that is telling us "hey maybe you need not do that "!!!

Have a great day and find your EXAMPLE to lead by.