Where Do You Live?

Today, my husband and two year old son almost got hit by a car.  They were walking in the crosswalk at our local Target when a car sped right in front of them.  After pulling our son behind him, my husband was close enough to the car as it passed to slap it with his arm.  When he told me about it, my first instinct was to grab my son and hold him close and look at both of them with new eyes.  Our whole lives could have been drastically changed in an instant this morning.  It started out as such an ordinary day and could have ended so differently, but for God's grace to our family.

Here are thoughts I have had since then:

It started me thinking about God's grace to us every day.  We have taught our son the catechism question and answer:

Q. Why should you glorify God?  A. Because He made me and takes care of me.  

But how often do we take God's taking care of us for granted and not even think about it?  If my husband had not told me about their morning,  I probably wouldn't have even thought of this day as any different than any other day.  And what about all those other days, when I am not even aware of how He has, in His mercy, taken care of me?  The cars that didn't hit us, the things that didn't happen, the temptations that He steered us away from...  I pray that today will serve as a reminder to me to give thanks always and to glorify my God because he made me and takes care of me!

This incident also got me to thinking about my priorities.  Earlier this afternoon, I was praying for the Lord to help me to love my husband more, to serve him joyfully and delight in him now, willingly laying down my life for him while the Lord has given him to me.  The same with my son.  There may be times when he really frustrates me or I am just tired of having to be consistent and persevere with him, but I only have him for this time for so long.  Not that I need to live in daily fear of those I love being taken from me (that is not faith!), but it makes me ask the question, "Where am I living?"  Am I living only in this world, with the busyness of daily life and the temptation to indulge myself instead of serving others, or am I living with eyes towards eternity? 
This life is only temporary; its real purpose is to prepare us to be with the Lord for eternity.  Am I living with eyes of faith, seeing eternity in everything I do, from housework to serving my husband to disciplining or teaching my son, to playing with my children....  Am I choosing the "best" over the "good" when options present themselves?  Am I remembering that my training of my children is to fit them for heaven and not just for this world (which should lend itself to much more patience, gentleness, perseverance,...)?  Am I desiring, in all these things, to be made fit for heaven and for those around me to be made so also?  I pray that I may not be distracted by life and so miss the joy of what is real, both now and for eternity! 

Encouragement for Imperfect Parents

It is so easy to build up idealized views of parenting, wanting things to be all hunky dory like in the Anne books or others.  Then, when reality hits, like as soon as your first child is born, where do you go?  It's easy to become discouraged that things aren't working right, that this isn't the way it's supposed to be, and to worry that your children are doomed to have you as a parent.  To that end, here is a post I read this morning that reminded me of what is true and where my hope lies. 

I remember awaiting the arrival of our first child. I had plans for the type of dad I would be, the type of child he would be, and what our relationship would look like. I had faith for it…I had confidence in it. …then he was born!  Read the rest here. 

Seeking Your Child's Heart

We are realizing that we are entering a new stage of parenting with our older children, ages 6 and 7.  We are moving past  the more "simple" goal of immediate, cheerful, thorough obedience and moving further into their hearts.  Our goal is more to win their hearts now, to build relationship with them, to help them grow in character and in ability to choose the right over the wrong and the "best" over the "good."  To that end, here is an article by C. J. Mahaney on dealing with idols in your child's heart that is helpful in showing you how this can be done.

So I want to do two things. I want to try to introduce my son to a study that isn’t correction specific to an occasion. I want to study the heart, I want to study anger, I want to study idolatry, unrelated to an occasion where I am bringing discipline, so that the study hopefully can have the most effect. I want to engage in a study from Scripture. I want to choose age-appropriate material. I want to choose appropriate passages. And then my study with my son is supplemented by stories from my life, because I do the same thing. I don’t cry anymore like a child but I know how to cry in adult ways. I want my child to know that no matter what the category, I can identify. Read the entire article here. 

Family Devotions with Children

Here are some books and other tools that we have found to be useful in our family devotions with our kids, ages 7, 6, 3, and 4 mos.

Bible Reading

• The Jesus Storybook Bible (Sally Lloyd-Jones)
• The Big Picture Story Bible (David Helm)
• The Child's Story Bible (Catherine Vos)
• The Read Aloud Bible Stories series  (Ella Lindvall) (when our oldest were younger)
• Currently we are reading the "real" Bible with them, with passages from the Old and New Testaments.  

Catechism Memorization

• The Gospel for Children (Leuzarder)-  A catechism that goes through God, the Bible, sin, Jesus, Repentance and Faith, Counting the Costs with picture prompts.  This is our second time through with our older ones, and we will probably work on it with our  3 year old in the next year or so. 
• A children's catechism that is a mixture of A Catechism for Young Children and My First Book of Questions and Answers by Carine Mackenzie

Scripture Memory

• We work on the verses the kids bring home from Sunday school, as well as other verses that we feel are applicable at certain times. 

Other

• Wise Words for Moms (Ginger Plowman) - this was helpful in discussing how scripture applies and what it looks like in different situations. 

Music

• My husband usually plays and has us sing through a set of 2-3 hymns and songs, especially ones that we might be singing the following Sunday, to familiarize the kids with the words and tune ahead of time.  We most always end with a "dance" song for the kids.  :)  Our kids really look forward to this time! 

For the Young Mother

Here is a very encouraging article I read tonight about ministry, guilt and seasons of life as a young mother. 

Guilt is a young mother’s habitual shadow. It has a nasty way of soaking through many of her efforts at nurturing, serving and loving others. “Am I doing enough for my children? For others? What do they think of me? What does God think of me?” Read the rest here.