parenting

God takes the long view.

God takes the long view.

Lamentations 5

Ever since my first child was in her first year of life, I tried to live by a parenting principle I picked up from one of the books I read. It advised: Begin as you mean to go. In other words, that book suggests that parents begin training their children with the long view in mind. This way, training is purposeful and not erratic. For example, when I wanted Caroline to learn to feed herself in a certain way, I didn’t allow her to throw food onto the floor for three months before having to “re-train” her to keep her food on her plate. I started by never allowing her to throw food on the floor. I began as I meant to go. And I still do.

God thinks of others.

God thinks of others.

Jeremiah 47

Because of my parent/child context on this trip through the Bible, this jumped out at me from today’s chapter: “The people will cry out; all who dwell in the land will wail at the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds, at the noise of enemy chariots and the rumble of their wheels. Parents will not turn to help their children; their hands will hang limp.” (vs 2-3)

God will try anything.

God will try anything.

Jeremiah 35

I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again: what you see in the Bible at any given time is highly dependent upon your immediate context—that is, your current life’s circumstances that provide the “frame of reference” by which you relate to the world around you. For example, if you are currently a student, you may notice things about education or wisdom. If you are currently a farmer, references to planting and harvest will likely pique your curiosity.

God is a parent.

God is a parent.

Jeremiah 25

I know, I know. The title of this blog: duh! Nothing new or earth-shattering here. One of the basics of knowing God is recognizing that He is the parent and we are His children. But how often do we stop to really flesh out all the applications and implications of that? If we know God is a parent, should it surprise us when He acts like one?

God is a slave.

God is a slave.

Isaiah 49

There are so many ironies in the Christian life, and this is one of them: to be a slave to others in love is the highest expression of freedom. Yeah, that probably bears repeating: to be a slave to others in love is the highest expression of freedom. And in this chapter of Isaiah, that’s exactly what we learn about God—He is a slave to others in love.

God protects us.

God protects us.

Isaiah 43

This chapter begins with one of my all-time favorite passages in the Bible: “But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.’” (vs 1-2)

God loves us in a big way.

God loves us in a big way.

Isaiah 38

I often tell my husband that nothing makes me happier than to hear those three little words from him: You were right. Such simple things can make a girl’s day! (ha ha) And I must admit that this was on my mind as I read today’s chapter from Isaiah. I imagine there are a lot of words we can say that would make God happy, and I think some of them were in this chapter.

God wants to help you.

God wants to help you.

Isaiah 16

There is a special kind of ache in the heart that can only be felt by a parent with a hurting child—especially when it’s the sort of hurt that you can’t do anything about. Now, imagine how that ache would be magnified if you were in a position to ease the hurt, but your child refused your help. I think that could almost make you go crazy.

God knows the future.

God knows the future.

Isaiah 13

If there’s one thing I had to become quickly accustomed to as a new parent, it was driving around in the car with my daughter strapped into her car seat behind me—facing backwards. Since I was often driving with no other adults in the car, I wasn’t crazy about the requirement of a rear-facing seat for babies since it meant I wouldn’t be able to see Caroline at all while I was behind the wheel. A thousand wild ideas of what could “happen” to her while I couldn’t see her used to go through my head. So, before I could drive myself crazy, my husband bought a mirror that attached to the seat she was facing so at least I could see her reflection. Problem solved.

God is love.

God is love.

Song of Solomon 1

If you were going to write the “song of all songs” to be published in the Bible, what would you write about? What subject would you choose for the song that would be greater than any other song? I don’t know about you, but I suspect most Christians would choose to write a song of praise and worship to God. Don’t you think that’s what God would want? A song that exalted Him?

God is no softie.

God is no softie.

Proverbs 15

When our first daughter was about seven months old, we hit our first parenting “challenge” — sleep training. The difficult part of that came when Caroline just didn’t want to go down for her nap or when she became so tired that she would have trouble falling asleep. So, in order to help her learn to go to sleep on her own at that age, we decided to adopt the “Ferber method” of sleep training, which includes allowing your child to cry for very short intervals of time and not picking them up, but reassuring them that they are okay and safe.

God is a... hater?

God is a... hater?

Proverbs 6

If there is one, overarching theme to the Bible, it must be that God is love. He is like a fierce Momma Bear who will do anything, absolutely anything, to protect His children. (And, you know, we’re all His children.) But because we spend so much time using that word love to describe God, it’s easy to forget that the Bible describes Him as hating things, too. (Notice I said things, not people.)

God is the center.

God is the center.

Psalm 127

I live in the same town as my mother. What a blessing that is—especially since my daughters can grow up with their “memaw” right down the road. My mom and I are good friends, and we talk every day. And it seems that, recently, I have heard her say quite a few times (she’ll forgive me for paraphrasing), “The older I get, the more I ask God to just help me stay out of His way!”

God blesses while we curse.

God blesses while we curse.

Psalm 109

God blesses us, even when we curse Him. This is something that is far too often ignored—or not even realized—in Christianity today. As a collective group, we Christians don’t seem comfortable with or cognizant of the fact that God repays evil with good. He is a friend to His enemies. He forgives those who hurt Him. He blesses while we curse.