Any guesses on where the title came from? Hint.....Lord of the Rings...Gandalf states this Biblo Baggins. I think we, as parents need to be reminded of this same concept and spend time remembering that there is more to our children than we know too. If you know me really well, then you know that one of my deepest passions is for my children to grow up and become warriors for Christ. Our world that we now know will not be one we recognize when our kids grow up and they will be TESTED IN THEIR FAITH. I want my kids to represent Him at ALL costs. Just finished a book that supports that and encourages parents to take heart and begin parenting by gazing into your children's spiritual condition before you try sculpting their outsides. In Spiritual Parenting, Michelle Anthony quotes "The danger in merely focusing on our children's outward behavior without the inner transformation is that sometimes our children will align their behavior to our mandates to please us or receive approval. Without this supernatural transformation, we may have moral or obedient children, but we don't necessarily have spiritual children." Booo-yaaaa! Oh my! I see lots of kids today who are obedient robots and when they leave home........well, "all hell breaks loose!". A deep fear that I have. I am constantly talking, in particular with my eldest, about the 'whys' and the 'how comes'. I want to know why she does things and what she is feeling and what she believes the bible says about such things. I don't want an unemotional robot. I want them to truly fall in love with Christ. In the book Spiritual Parenting she talks about passing on a faith to her kids that would:
1. allow her children to know and hear God's voice, discerning it from others
2. they would desire to obey Him when they heard His voice
3. they would obey Him not in their own power, but in the power of the Holy Spirit.
I would agree. I can only hope and pray that I don't mess them up; hoping that they will some day be able to arrive at this station in life. I don't want to be a parent who practices 'sin management'. Instead, I'd like to "cultivate environments for my children's faith to grow, teaching them how to cultivate a love relationship with Jesus as I cultivate my own, living my life authentically in front of them so that they become eyewitnesses to my own transformation." M. Anthony
So yes, I'm pretty excited to be reading up on some fresh material on parenting. Paul and I are in the process of re-examining our family values and creating intentional 'rites of passages' for all 3 of our children. Also check out Raising a Trailblazer by Dr. Virginia Friesen. Both excellent pieces of literature that present transferable ideas that any family can use!! Parenting can be joyful and I'm learning to relax a little and of course remember that I am NOT in the drivers seat in life. My creator is the one providing the opportunities and the tools for me to use. And there is no guarantee. Let's see where this journey takes us. Needless to say, I spend almost each night in prayer and begging for blessings upon my children. I am a very imperfect parent, to say the least!
Something fun that I just started doing this week is writing love notes on the mirror with Expo markers for my family. The kids love it and they will soon be writing notes too!! yahoo!
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