(Today's post is by a friend of ours, Carolyn Nuthman. Carolyn is involved in ministry at Hillside Christian Church, where her husband, Mike, is on staff and in charge of congregational care. She's a great mom and grandmom... and a really sweet gal. Enjoy her perspective!)
Before I was married with children, Bob Stacy (founder of CIY), made an inspirational, yet sobering statement. He said, “What your children think about you is what they will ultimately think of God.”
As we began to bring children into this world, I tried very hard to put that into practice. This is difficult because, as Mary Engelbreit says, “Life is just so daily!” But, I believed it to be true and called on God often to rear our children as though He were raising them Himself.
I was able to put this into practice by looking both forward and backward in my own life… which explained my own view of God. “Was He really my friend? Did He listen? Did He care? Did He really love me, or was He just there to punish me?”
Looking forward from the birth of our children, this clarifying thought gave added dimension in their lives. As God adds length of days, my life as “Nana” has great import in this area, as well. Grandparents are often able to give great time and attention to grandchildren.
Take time to ask yourself some incisive and valuable questions: Am I emotionally available to my children? Am I approachable? Can they feel comfortable talking with me about anything at all? Do they know I will listen to their requests and help find answers? Do they know I’m the “boss” because God has given me the responsibility for them?
These and other questions can help answer the ultimate questions: “How does your relationship with each of your children help them interpret life? And how is your life interpreting God to them?”
2 comments:
Each post is so great.
I thought I was going to be seeing a weekly post, so when I strolled on by I was thrilled to find more posts than I assumed there would be.
Great job everyone. I think this might just become a very popular place to be.
Thank you for sharing that, Carolyn. What a conviction. It really is way to easy to become wrapped up in all the daily stuff. I homeschool my kids, which means we spend a lot of time together, but it also means we spend A LOT of time together. I really need to take more time to look away from the housework, the errands, ministry, curriculum, the "tyranny of the urgent" and reflect on whether I am really connecting with my kids. It is a constant struggle for me. Thank you for the reminder!
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