I went to a GREAT conference this weekend with some of my dearest friends. Actually, I got to introduce one of my closest childhood friends to two of my closest friends in my adult life. We all had such a blast together -- clearly, I have fabulous taste in friends! :) It's so nice to get away from the normal pace of life and really CONNECT with these other women that are so special to me. So refreshing.
I went to one seminar that struck such a chord with me. The speaker was talking about the spiritual upbringing of our children, and all the small things that I can do as a mother to train them to see with spiritual eyes. She talked about how she wanted her children's Sunday, to flow into their Monday...and then into their Tuesday... That's something I've spent a lot of time thinking about in the past year. I so desparately want to avoid fostering some kind of "religion" in my children that they do at church, or among their church friends, but then quickly lose track of when Monday hits and they are back in their everyday environments. I want it to be a RELATIONSHIP that encompasses their entire lives and everything that they do. Like weaving a thread through a tapestry -- I want it to all come together in their lives and be transforming. I want to make sure that's true in my own life...and that they see it.
I found out that I'm already doing some things right (who knew?!), and I learned some other things that I hadn't thought of yet. Mostly I just got a renewed sense of how important it is to be INTENTIONAL. That's hard when you're tired some days!
The funny thing is, I'm such an all-or-nothing, black-and-white, perfectionistic sort of person, that I usually think I have to make major ingenious changes for my parenting to be better. Most of the time I completely miss the fact that it's a string of little things; little changes that impact them.
I think this post may fall under the category of "ramblings of an over-tired and conference-filled woman." Does anyone else ever think like this? What threads do you want to weave in your children's lives? What things do you not want them to miss?
5 comments:
This is the first time I've participated in a blog...
It has been my experience that God deals with us in the same way He wants us to approach parenting. Most of the time its a string of little things; little changes that impact our growth in Him. Through Bible studies, sermons, devotions, and family. That said my bent if I have too much energy is to try and order the growth process. I've had to be careful that my intentional actions don't overstep that line of me being in control verse God.
By the way the call came, an 8 point, brown eyed, wonder fell this morning.
I love it when you write!
Delilah's greatest Fan
Hi there! I'm so glad you stopped by! He got one, eh? Do I cheer or cry? :) Does this mean he's coming home early now? Well, we'll see how long this new "blog interest" of mine lasts -- it's kind of fun though!
I feel the same way, but he was so excited you can't help but be happy for him. It was cold and wet all day along with wind, can't say I envy him. I guess you can get 2 per license, but the next one has to be point free. So I won't be seeing him quite yet.
This may not be what you were talking about, but I don't want my children to miss the laughter. I don't really remember laughing all that much as a kid and I want my children to laugh. I want them to find joy in all that the Lord brings them. I know that there will be hard times and heartaches along the way, but I don't want them to ever forget how to laugh.
Anonymous - I completely agree; laughter is so important. So many things look so much better and are so much more enjoyable if we can just learn to laugh!
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