Being a Christian Parent

Parenting for me is often like the process of sanctification. I grow and move forward in holiness and then I sin and am reminded of just how sinful I am. It would be so much easier to parent if I didn't have the goal and intention of raising the kids in the instruction of the Lord.

But how can I ignore Deuteronomy 6:6,7 "And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up."

Being convicted of this means that I can't just send them to timeout and that's the end of it. I have to take the time to instruct them in the word and remind them of the job God has given me. This takes extra time and many times I miss the opportunities. Maybe it's because I'm in a rush or I'm tired and irritable, or am just plain lazy. And then there are times when I realize things I've said or my tone of voice and I feel loaded with guilt that I have said the very things I told myself I wouldn't say. There are also times when I hear myself in Ethan and realized where he has learned his behavior from.  At the end of the day when I'm writing in my prayer journal, God shows me those missed opportunities and times when I was impatient and I'm reminded of his grace. How many times must he have the right to be impatient or frustrated with me but instead extends grace and mercy to me? 

And O how I relate to what I talked with Ethan about the other day. After he had been in timeout for an altercation with his brother, I asked him to sit with me and talk. He wanted the timeout to be the end of it and said "Why do you have to talk to me too?" (I guess it's easier for them to just do timeout too!). And so I reminded him of my job as his parent; to keep him on the path of Life. I reminded him of our activity we did not that long ago where we drew a picture of trucks carrying their treasures that were on the path of Life and those that had gotten off the path and were headed for destruction. I said "If I let you get off the path and head down the path to destruction I would not be loving you and would not be doing what God has instructed me to do." Ethan said "Mom, what I did is not that big of a deal, it's not going to lead me to hell." Me: "That may be true, but if I overlook each little thing that you do and you head off the path of Life a little more each time, before you know it you won't be able to see the path of Life anymore because it will be so far away. And so each time you wander off the path, I will have to direct you back onto it whether you like it or not because I love you." I reminded him of what happened to Christian in the Pilgrim's Progressand how each time he got off the path, how dangerous it was and how he almost died along the way on the path to the Celestial City.

And so I am convicted of how many times as a parent I wander off the path God has set for me and am so grateful that he directs me back on and reminds me of the journey I am on and the eternal goal: teaching and training and leading these two eternal souls to Christ and preparing them for the journey God has in store for them in their future work for the Kingdom.  And I pray that God would point out to me the teaching opportunities and give me wisdom to know how to use those times to share God's truth with them.  I pray as well that I would have patience to take the extra time to share God with them, regardless of what plan or agenda I may have. 

"My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life. I will teach you wisdom's ways and lead you in straight paths. When you walk, you won't be held back; when you run, you won't stumble. Take hold of my instructions; don't let them go. Guard them, for they are the key to life." Proverbs 4:10-13