From a post by Julian Freeman:

We've all heard the expression about missing the forest for all the trees. It's easy to do in any area of life, but I've found it especially easy in parenting. At any given point in time there are so many issues that are pressing, so many different things you want to teach, and so many ways you want to express love for your children. How can you find time for it all?

The answer, to be sure, is 'You can't.' There just isn't enough time. No matter how much time I have with my kids, I find there's always more I'd like to say, teach, discipline, instruct, encourage, rebuke, etc. And at the same time I don't want to overwhelm them or frustrate them with too many words, too much instruction, too many demands. Fathers are specifically warned, after all, not to provoke their children to anger (Eph 6.4).

The key to this, as with so many things, is balance. I need to learn to not harp on every little thing I see in them, but to pick my spots, look for moments when little hearts are open and ready to receive instruction, and most of all, make sure I make the main thing the main thing--always.

Unfortunately, I fear that I do a bad job at that. I get so caught up in the presenting issues of the day-to-day that I sometimes lose sight of the big picture issues that my children so desperately need me to emphasize...

...There is very little to be proud about in parenting. The mistakes are many and the painstakingly obvious need for God's intervening grace humbles me continually. I've never been more aware of the fact that if my children will be saved, it will be all because of God's grace in spite of me, rather than because of me.

But there is hope. And the Lord loves to use broken, fallen, largely-pathetic humans for his good purposes: it's his way of ensuring that he gets all the glory. And I'm okay with that. I'm just thankful for mercy and hopeful for future grace.

Read his whole post here.