I'm not trying to say that my parents are awesome, or that my siblings are awesome, or that we're all that and a canister of silly string, but the fact is, my parents did an amazing job at bringing up their kids. There is always margin for error, but at this point, everyone is pretty much turning out.
I always marveled at that fact (yeah, I have this phobia of one day having kids and them all turning into little hoodlums who wreak havoc and don't go on for the Lord), and I know many godly parents whose children have turned out less than well. To say the least.
I had always figured that my parents were just really in tune with the Lord when it came to raising kids (they were), and that they used principles from the Word of God (they did), because obviously that's the best help book for parenting. True and true.
But my dad was talking about it the other day and said something that made all the sense in the world to me. He said that essentially, a lot of people try to raise their kids in their own image. The parent sort of wants their kid raised a certain way, for one reason or another, and that's all good and well, but... my parents didn't want kids in their own image. They, through much prayer and patience, tried to mold us kids in the image of God. No sense having a bunch of little kids like them, they'd rather a passel of kids who live in Christ's image.
Somehow, it made me a little less scared of having (and, subsequently, messing up) children. Not much, but some. Kids like me would be a disaster. Kids following in the footsteps of God? I could deal with that.
4 comments:
The more Christ like the parents are, the easier this will be I guess! I just finished reading To Train up a Child by the Pearls, so this was an interesting topic choice for you today. :)
True. I guess parents shouldn't hope to have their kids turn out if they're not walking with the Lord as they ought.
So, you read the book. Are you guys homeschooling? Aren't the Pearls very homeschooling-oriented?
Yes, they are very homeschool oriented, but other than one chapter and maybe a few other sentences, you can read the book without even knowing that. They focus on training and discipline and it is a helpful book even if a couple is planning to public school as we are.
That's cool. I've personally never really read up much about parenting, but I've skimmed through books at my sisters houses and such. I remember seeing that book and mostly just liking that their last name was Pearl. Good to know it's a good read, though!
Post a Comment