Living the gospel daily.What does that mean? What does that really look like? As I sat down this morning for my quiet time, this is what the focus of the day was, The gospel, the Word of God being living and active in my life now. It should have changed everything in my life, it’s impact woven through the way I think and act. Here's an excerpt from today: ”..the gospel redefines how we understand our whole story, how we think about the meaning of life, how we understand the human struggle, where we get our identity, where we look for peace and security, what we consider in life to be dangerous, what we see as successful living...” ”..When Jesus takes up residence in us everything in life changes. Nothing remains the same. Now if you don’t know this, you celebrate your salvation, but for help with your marriage, parenting, sex, money, friendships, fear, addictions, decisions, and such, you don’t look to the gospel. You log on to Amazon.com and scan for the latest self help book... You’ve forgotten who you are as a child of God.” Paul Tripp, New Morning Mercies This was just the conversation I was having with my brother the other day, as I was asking his opinions on the influences I allow on my kids, and the methods I use to teach them. His comment was that there is no greater teacher of wisdom, critical thinking, persuasive speaking, etc., than the Bible, and Christ himself. If we take time to really look at the the gospels and what Christ is saying, we see he IS the greatest teacher. How true and freeing that was to be reminded of! Why did I start to forget the power and completeness of the gospel?! The Bible truly is the best source for teaching, and how wonderful it is that God has given us all such a blessing to have his word at our fingertips! So, the spirit of God should be working in every aspect of my life, including parenting. The gospel isn’t just something we hear at church. It changes us. How have I see the spirit working? What does this look like practically? Well, if you’re are a parent, then you know how time and time again you are put in situations where you are completely at loss on what to do. You see your limitations, your lack of wisdom, your inability to completely help and solve every problem your child throws at you. It is humbling, discouraging, frustrating, but is also where you can allow God to take control if you are willing to submit to him. We’ve been battling anger and tempers right now in our parenting journey. My kid definitely has my temper and gets mad to the point of being out of control. I get it 100%! That’s me. The problem is I don’t really know how to help. He’s sobbing in frustration and learning that throwing things, hitting others, or biting himself all aren’t ok ways of dealing with his feelings. When I was mad as a kid, I’d ride the fourwheeler or shoot some pine cones with the BB gun to take a break and calm down, but those aren’t good options for a toddler. We pray, but that honestly just irks him more, and again, wrong as it is, I get it! When I’m mad, I’m mad at God too. Don’t hug me, lecture me, belittle the issue, just give me space, and talk to me later, But how do you help a toddler who doesn’t even understand what he’s feeling and why? We were praying, disciplining, trying to give better solutions, modeling how to talk it out, but we were grasping at straws and felt like we were drowning. (That drowning feeling is usually a good hint that I’ve been trying to be in control of something instead of giving it to God.) Then, finally one day God revealed to me what was before right before my dumb eyes, Danny’s favorite Bible story, The Talking Donkey. Every morning we read the story about Baalam’s talking donkey. And what does angry Baalam do? Hit his nice donkey. Seriously, I feel like God must have been rolling his eyes at how dense I was for not seeing this as my kid requested it every morning. But finally, thanks to the Holy Spirit, I finally saw a way to connect scripture to the issue at hand. So now if he’s mad or hits, we talk about Baalam. Walk about how Baalam sinned. How Baalam could have acted in a better way. We even called Baalam on the play phone and talked about forgiveness, something that has been very challenging around here. It hasn’t completely solved the issues. Like any normal human being my kid still gets mad, makes mistakes, needs to calm down, but I’m now learning to try to connect the situation to a story in scripture and it greatly calms him down. As I work through those times I have peace, I’m no longer drowning, because I’m letting God teach me and him. Isn’t it funny how as a kid you think parenting is all about training kids, and then you realize it’s God training and teaching adults by using kids. My child listens better to a story about someone else struggling with the same thing over just lecturing on why his behavior isn’t ok. We talk about times I have struggled and needed to make a better choice and we talk about people in the Bible. The other issue we’ve been battling is him making noises at us when he’s mad. In not knowing how to properly handle correction, he’s been getting disciplined for making what we’ve been referring to as animal sounds. Again the Holy Spirit stepped in. Who acted like an animal in the Bible? King Nebuchadnezzar!!!! Here I already had experience telling this story to a bunch of toddlers thanks to BSF covering it just months before. Little did I realize God was training me in the story to be prepared to use it to teach my child. How good is He! Suddenly if found myself telling the story of someone who REALLY acted like an animal. I was careful to not stretch the story to fit my parenting needs, although it was scary how tempting it was. I just shared the truth of the story and the lesson in it. Even though it didn’t relate to what I wanted my kid to learn, I trusted that maybe God wanted to teach him something different than I did. God knows my child perfectly. He sees his heart. So I felt at peace talking about Nebbuccanezzar’s arrogance before God, his depraved mind, and what wisdom without God is really like, and let go of the perfect obedience lecture I wanted to give. Discipline is an opportunity to share the gospel with my child, to come together before God, and that is what God provided, so I had to let go of how I wanted the teaching moment to be and follow where God was taking us. The freeing feeling of peace after these issues helps me know God is working. I’m sure plenty of Christian parents would have frowned on the whole Nebuchadnezzar situation and how I handled it. The story did distract him from the issue. I didn’t reconnect it to the behavior by saying something like “God made Nebuchadnezzar an animal for not obeying.” I can’t change scripture to meet my needs. The lesson of Nebuchadnezzar was different so I just shared that lesson. But I trust God. He led me to the story. Somehow he is going to use it. Who am I to say I know exactly what the most important lesson is for my kid?! Bottom line is, I can’t change my child. Only God can. His wisdom is perfect. His word is perfect. He provides for us all we need, including our parenting needs. We’re still working through these issues. This post in no way it so say we solved toddler tantrums, but God truly does provide all we need in his word. His spirit provides all the wisdom we can ever need or get.
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These days little Danny is full of questions. We skipped the "WHY" stage and he went straight to wanting to know about anything and everything. "Where's it come from?" "What's that (fill in toddler description) thing?" "Where's it?" "Where's our house go?" "What's that noise? My hear something." "What my mell?" (What do I smell?) We're answering hundreds of questions a day and car rides now don't have much room for conversation time between mom and dad. Danny wants to know about everything, and you better not give him a one word answer, or you're getting the same exact question thrown right back at you. I've learned the trick to not getting the same question, is giving him a long enough answer that just begins to hit the boring, too-much-information zone. Thank goodness he's learning to at least describe things now, and were past him expecting us to know exactly what he spotted while we were driving 70 mph on the highway. He's learning to describe by color, size and shape, which helps us out. If its a sound, he's getting pretty good at mimicing just about anything. Sometimes he doesn't like our answer and corrects us. Why he has to ask about something he already knows, I still haven't fiured out. Sometimes we just throw the question back at him, if we know he already knows the answer. And boy is this kid observant! I honestly can believe what he notices, connects, and even remember from months past. He notices everytime I'm hurting and hold on to the handle to get out of the car saying, "You got out like Nana." (Exactly what everyone wants to hear, that they're moving as well as their 80 year old grandma.) He notices sounds I completely tune out. Last night he asked, "Whats that noise?" When I incorrectly said it was the birds out the window, he said, "no" and made a low humming noise. Only then did I realize the dehumidifire hum running up the vents from the basement. "What my mell" is one of his top questions, especially in the car. From rain in the air to manure at the barn, he notices and asks about it all. For the first time I've noticed the sweet, faint smell of honeysuckle coming in the windows on the drive home along the river. How many times have I done that drive and never even noticed it. I am truly thankful what he is opening my eyes (and ears and nose) to. Every parent will tell you playing non-stop 20 questions makes you about ready to go to insane. Its the constant, "Where's my house go," and "Mommy point to my house," when we're nowhere close, that is exasperating. It is like he thinks if I point to where it is, it will magically appear and we will be home. When that starts we try to find anything out the window for redirecting for everyone's sake. Not liking my answer, or those times I have no idea what he's talking about, can be really frustrating for both of us. He's not the type to be fooled about me not knowing what he is asking, and I don't want to lie and just make up something to shut him up. I try to explain that I don't always know but it is a good question. Sometimes I suggest someone else he can ask, or we just talk about how God made things the way they are. The thing is, I love seeing how his mind works, how he wants to learn, and how observant he is, but it is a daily test on my patience. I'm trying to remind myself when he's asked me the same thing for the 100th time to be patient, talk kindly, apprecitiate his learning, and try to find the humor in it all. The thing is, the kid is freaking smart! I'm not saying he's any genius or even smarter than any other kid, but compared to me he's miles ahead. Kids have a fresh, energetic, inquisitive mind that we as adults tend to lose. They want to learn, to explore, to question. Everything is new and fascinating. They will make connections to things we never thought of and notice the tinest of details if we just keep out mouths closed and let them explore. They don't have the negative look on things. Life isn't boring. They don't know everything and are completely ok admitting it. He's teaching me again to notice the little world around me. I don't need to go anywhere to have an adventure or be entertained, I just need to reengage my mind again. For as exasperating at times it can be, I don't want to squelch his inquisitive mind. I don't want to teach him to live life with a brain on autopilot. I want him to share his interests, questions, ideas, and observations with me. I want him to know I really do care about what he thinks. But none of that will stay if I respond with a tone, or a quick answer. He'll eventually not share his mind with me, and maybe even worse, completely quit thinking. I don't want to have a teenager someday, who doesn't want to talk to me, because, as a toddler, I taught him I was too impatient and uninterested to care to listen.
Unfortunately I don't feel I do well at it. When I have responded wrongly, I apologize. I tell him it wasn't ok for me to be cross or short. I tell him I need to speak kindly and ask God to help me when I feel impatient. I also tell him how much I really love that he wants to learn and I want him to ask questions. I tell him how I love his stories and knowing what he is thinking. These days it is my prayer that I will be able to listen, engage, be patient, and value those questions in the moment because I really do love how his mind works. If you've read the blog a while you know I like picking a word for the whole year instead of resolutions. It does help me stay more focused and I find it sticks with me and shapes my year. Like always, it's almost February and I'm just settling down on it, but I'm excited that it's not what I was thinking God was going to lead me to pick. I like to try to have a word and a verse to focus on, and spend time praying about what God wants for my year. I thought it was going to be IRON with my verse being Proverbs 27:17. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17 God has been bringing this verse to mind over the past few months, challenging me to step up, showing me where I'm hiding and disobeying. I hate being the iron. I enjoy sharing what God is doing in my life, but the moment someone says it convicted them I feel so bad, even if they don't mean it in an irritated way. I'd just rather be the peacemaking, don't make waves type person, but God keeps throwing me in situtions where I'm the weird one and telling me he wants to use me. My response is always either sharpen me, or find someone else to be your iron, and I say no. Let's be real, typically the iron isn't the most popular. We shoot the messenger all the time. Lately, God's been sticking me in situations that don't even require me to open my mouth to be the iron. Somehow me manages to use me even through my defiance and refusal to speak. Honestly it's irritating, but I guess that's how my kid feels when he tells me no and I make him do something anyways. So with this being such a lesson lately, and one I'm not getting very fast, I expected this to be where he was taking me for the year, but I'm so thankful it's not. It's a lesson I'm still learning, something that I'm not off the hook on, but he has blessedly given me another thing to focus on that will be more enjoyable as he continues to sharpen me and break my unwillingness to be used. This year he's given me the word NATURE Here's how I'm expecting this to manifest itself over the year: 365 Days outside I've really been trying hard to get Danny outside everyday and myself, although sometimes I just stay in and send him with daddy. Part of NATURE is our focus on being outside more, including me. It is so good for us all in so many ways and I really want to be out more and more, hopefully having him spend most of his warm season days all outside. It won't be long before he can be running and exploring all on his own without my watchful eye, so helping him know boundaries now and get used to playing outside will encourage this as he grows up. Hopefully, this will look like meals outside, naps for baby skippy in the shade, veggie gardening with Danny's help, early morning exercise and Bible study on the patio for me, more bonfires, and more playing with the animals. Danny loves being outside, so for him this will be exciting, I just can't get lazy about it. We have plenty of places to play and shady spots to rest so there's no excuse to be in on the couch. We made it all last year without ever using the air conditioning and I'm hoping to do that again with windows open and hopefully some pretty screen doors! Verse Study and Hymn FocusAlong with my BSF, I'd like to spend time really looking into the verses and hymns about God's wonders, power, and creation. I hope to include little Danny into part of this too. I think since it's still winter, we'll start with snow. I'm a mountain girl and love snow, and my mom is the same way. I've heard her challenge people who are constant complainers of snow to spend a snow day and read all the different verses that mention snow. I like the idea and think we'll start there. I see God so easily in creation and it is such a good way to remind me to be thankful. ArtI love painting, specifically painting nature scenes and tend to be inspired by poems and hymns I stumble across. I'd love to do more art in general and see it as a way I can worship God. Ever since I decided to paint as a form of thanks and worship of God for all he created, I tend to have more patience and enjoyment in my painting. When I get frustrated, I remind myself that I'm doing it as a way to remember God, what he has made, his immense power and beauty and the focus isn't on perfection of the final product. I really want to paint more and I'd love to have a collection of paintings paired with hymns and poems to reflect over God's creation and beauty. HealthWe've been big on slowly switching to a healthier lifestyle in the last year. I love listening to health podcasts, reading blogs from doctors, and (nerd alert!) reading medical journals. I've always loved medical journals and research, and now that I'm out of school and can read what I want, I'm remembering again what it is like to love learning. Everything I focus on mostly falls back to what my mom taught me about health as a kid, The way God intended it is probably the Best. There's more and more push out there for getting back to things the way Nature meant it to be, or as I like to say, God intended it to be. This means more cooking at home, less purchased, processed food. Less chemical products, less unhealthy habits. More movent and activity, more time as a family, more time in the dirt and sun, less technology. We've already done so much, but we're just going to continue to try baby stepping through these little changes and try to make them become a part of normal life. This also pushes us to live more without things, which is always a good reminder, continuing to push us to be content. My first year I ever picked a word I chose content, and it is always a prayer for me and for my family, so I'm glad to see how it will resurface. Contentment brings so much calmness, peace, enjoyment of life, and worship of God. It's more than just not wanting stuff, it's a wonderful blessing we can only find in God. I think that is why Paul referred to it as a secret. As we journey on I hope to share what we're doing over the year. How things are going, what we're doing and changing, maybe even share some of my art. I see this as a wonderful blessing God has set before me if I am willing to take hold and run with it. ...And I could just dance with joy that my word is not IRON. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.
Psalm 19:1-6 I love writing and something about poetry has always interested me. The lack of rules and the way it can share a story with such few words intrigues me. Sometimes when I can't sleep that's where my mind goes. I love reading A.A. Milne and Robert Lois Stevenson to baby because they both had the ability to capture the heart and mind of a child. I like to think that maybe they both wrote really for the benefit of the parents, helping dust the cobwebs off those childhood memories, softening out our calloused adult hearts to remember the joy and life of childhood. Secretly getting us to put ourselves in our child's shoes and look again through childish eyes to see the world as it was intended to be seen. Danny typically has been a good sleeper but just as we got back into a good rhythm, he's back in our bed thanks to the snow plows. I remember my childhood well, seemingly better than most people. I remember the terror of sleeping in my room alone. I remember honestly thinking that my friends parents who NEVER let them in their bed, must not love them as much. Thankfully I never told my friends that, but I remember feeling so sorry for them. I remember the fears and terror of being alone, and the immense comfort it brought getting to snuggle in my parents bed after a storm or nightmare. As a parent I understand wanting him in his own room, and with another baby coming in April, I don't want to build a habit. Then the memories of what it was like being so scared as a child toss me back to letting him in our room. That's currently where we are. Wading through the murky waters of the best solution, trying to balance empathy with firmness and discipline. Trying to discern when to fight him and when to be understanding. For some it is so easy to say "just throw him in his bed." "He's safe. He's fine. He'll get over it." Yes, that's all true, but for me it will never be easy. I don't disagree that it may be the course of action we need to take, but I also don't believe it being hard to do shows weakness. I sometimes wonder if some parents don't struggle with it because they've forgotten those fearful nights many years ago, where I have not. So while yes, to the adult, the snowplow is nothing to fear. We know it cannot come through the windows and eat our toes, but that is the understanding of a logical, seasoned, experienced adult. To a child everything has more life, more potential, more joy, yet, also at times, more fear. As I rocked baby last night as he clung to my neck crying, my mind was thinking of the irony of it all; a love by day and a fear by night. The poetic words began swirling around, reminding me what life it like in the mind of a child. I decide to share it as a reminder of childhood. Maybe another parent can read this and find that extra bit of patience they need, as they too, frustratingly wade the murky waters of firm discipline and gentle understanding.
Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. I love the reminder the month brings of being thankful and really find it at the front of my mind. Thanksgiving in my family was always about spending time with family and friends, not football or shopping. My mom always, and still does, welcome anyone who doesn't have a place to go into our home. Our Thanksgiving always means having new people to meet and the possibility of having anywhere from a few to many many people. It's the holiday for true hospitality, being happy to share what God has blessed us with to whomever wants to join. I've grown up seeing that excluding others is really missing the point of the First Thanksgiving, and really isn't showing true thankfulness for what God has blessed us with. So in our home you typically won't hear, "Our family only" or "This is just close friends." For as much as my mom doesn't enjoy having to try to figure out if she's having over 8 people or 15 the night before she cooks everything, there always is an open door at the Harper house. This is how I want my kids to see Thanksgiving. I want them to see the month of November as a month of reflection. A month to give God the glory, to be thankful, generous, and selfless. I want to challenge them, just as my mom did us, to be thankful for more than just home, family, and friends. While we should be thankful for all of these, they are easy things to be thankful for. They are those things you don't have to put much thinking into or to really search your heart and see all those tiny overlooked blessings God has given you throughout the year. Family, pets, friends, food, home all make a kindergartener's thankful turkey. My mom always wanted to push up to mature in our thankfulness and not just stay on the more superficial basics. To actually see what makes your heart ache with gratitude, you have to spend some time in thought, something I unfortunately only do in November and would benefit from doing it more. Last week I posted the below post on Instagram. The superficial level of thankfulness (although not any less important) is the blessing of this baby. I prayed to be pregnant again by November, not thinking I could face the month my last baby was due without another on the way, and God graciously answered. However, the deeper level of thankfulness, the one that makes my heart ache, bringing me to my knees before God, is the peace he's given me through this pregnancy. God has not promised me this pregnancy will go any differently than the last. There is no promise I won't lose this baby. There is no promise that it will be healthy, or that there will be no complications. No matter how much faith I have that these things won't happen, doesn't guarantee they won't, but God promises he will never leave me. He will be with me through the good times and the bad, just as he already has. After a miscarriage I expected extreme amounts of anxiety. I didn't know how I could go through pregnancy again "normally." The emotions this time are much harder, there is definitely a helpless uncertainty, realizing there is no promise things will go how I want, yet in it all I have peace. There is no crippling anxiety, but I'm ok with letting things fall in God's hands. I still can't go to an appointment alone. I have nightmares the week leading up. Thoughts of my last delivery put me into a panic attack and I truly cannot handle thinking about it, yet at the same time I have peace with God. A peace that I cannot explain. A peace that isn't blind, but clearly seeing the facts, knowing there is no promise of getting it all my way, yet accepting to believe God is good. A peace that almost scares me to admit exists, in fear I'll destroy it somehow. A peace that isn't of me or anything I have done on my own. It's an answer to prayer. A proof of the existence of God in my life. A peace somehow being able to exist while I still have those fears, those desires for it all to be ok. A peace that exists with normal fears, but frees me of the control of anxiety. I am not controlled by anxiety as I expected, obsessing over doing everything in my power to make it all ok. I know I can do nothing. I have no promises of the outcome, but I have the promise that God has it in control. God sees it all. God loves me and my family. God knows what is best for me and my family. He is love. He is The Creator, all-knowing, all-powerful, compassionate, forgiving, the perfect judge, my defender, my comforter, and will never leave me. The reality is, even with the pregnancy all going well, I could and should still be a disaster. I couldn't enjoy the blessing of the new baby without the even greater blessing of God's peace. Without Him I couldn't make it though this pregnancy. My last one I was doing EVERYTHING right. I was eating healthy, on my vitamins, no stress, no anxiety, working out, getting sleep, none of which was true with my pregnancy with Danny. With everything I was doing I should've been golden with the last one, and I lost the baby at 9 weeks. Why? I don't know. And I won't know. But what I had to understand and accept is it is all out of my control. I am not growing the baby, God is. I can obsess and try to control it, doing everything in my power to be as healthy as possible, but it promises nothing, and empty promises are never good to stand on. After extreme anxiety with my first pregnancy, still constantly battling pain from the complications, then losing my second pregnancy, somehow I have the more peace now with my third one than I did with any of the others. That doesn't and shouldn't make sense. It is only from God and I praise him for it.
With baby boy's language skills rapidly developing, I am beginning to gear up for starting scripture memorization. Kids tend to have this amazing ability to memorize things easily and I don't want to waste those years. While we want to wait to school, we believe you can never start teaching them God's truth too soon. Right now we read Proverbs 8, Psalm 23, and Danny's verse we picked for him (Eph 3:16-21) when we are at the table. Bible time in the morning has become just what we do, something his Daddy did a great job doing over the summer. Baby gets his breakfast and then says "pray" and "Bi" (Bible) always giggling with excitement, waiting to be asked what books he wants to read. He always requests "Ro" and "John" (Romans and John), which is what we've been doing in BSF, and if we still have time we read an additional Psalm and Proverb. He is getting the reference down to his verse, although we're the only ones that understand him, and he loves hearing us read and says "gen," (again) every time we get to the end. I'm learning that even in a church setting, the mention of wanting to do scripture memorization, family scripture reading, morning devotions, or anything like it is found pretty annoying. Even more so out of the older moms about to be empty nesters, I hear 'it just isn't practical,' or 'who really does that,' or 'don't even try you'll just fail.' But here's the thing, in elementary school I had to memorize one verse a week as part of our Bible grade. It was just the norm to have weekly verses along with our spelling words to learn. We did it and the verses could get quite lengthy. Do I remember all of them? No, but I do remember a lot. Now let just think about what this meant at school for scripture memorization. If there's 36 weeks in a school year, after 5 years we would have memorized 180 different verses and that is only doing one verse a week, no passages! That's a lot of verses! I've realized if I continue down the homeschool path for my kids, the responsibility of scripture memorization falls completely on me. There is no school to rely on, and yeah it's extra work for me, but that's not an excuse to not do it. The lesson to learn from the older Debbie Downers, is truly living this out is hard, and I believe it. I'm not the most organized and diligent person, so this will require some serious training for me, but I've got to at least try. I really love the book of Deuteronomy (I know its weird). It spoke so much to me as a new parent and really showed me that I was not to take teaching my children about God and his word lightly. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deut 6:4-9 If we really take this verse to heart, we should be using every possible moment and opportunity to teach our children about God. It is my job as a parent to teach them, not just throw them in church and let them worry about it. Finding time to teach my kids about God comes down to my priorities. Letters, shapes, numbers really all need to take a back seat, but it is so easy to get lost in the wordly battle for grades and neglect spending the time learning God's word. And then there's the laziness; sometimes I just don't want to do it. Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord brought lasting ruin on them. It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done. Deut 11:1-7 The passage above hit me so hard. Here the people were being commanded to remember what God had done, his blessings, his power. How often am I having these conversations with my kids about what God has done for me? Not only do they need to hear it, but it's also a sure fast way at snapping me out of any ungratefulness. The thing is, when you study the Bible, you learn the people of Israel failed. They didn't do this stuff and their kids didn't know and obey God like they should. It's been hard for parents from the beginning, but God didn't seem to say that was an excuse. I cringe now feeling the overload of judgement coming my way over this. I can just hear the, "I'm just waiting for her to crash and burn." The thing is, I know I'll fail. I'll fail over and over and over again, but that doesn't mean I don't keep trying every time God gets me back on track. Ever since we were married, I began slowly writing down verses I wanted to memorize or have my kids memorize. After 5 years of slowly picking away at it, I have a spreadsheet of verses for my kids. Unfortunately, I haven't been consistent with it so it isn't even near covering the entire Bible, but it is a great starting point and I keep adding to it as I find more. I'm sure there are plenty of books out there on where to start with kids, what verses to learn and when, but I wanted to do what I felt God was putting on my heart. Right now I have over 145 passages listed and it keeps growing. Will my kids learn all of them? Probably not. I'd love them to, but if I'm being realistic, no they won't. I plan to use this as a guide line for selecting verses, going by age and topic to help me sort which is right for each child. I want my kids memorizing what they need, not that they don't need it all, but sometimes you need to hear a specific truth. The verses are more grouped by age but are no way in order. I don't really feel like there is a right order, just picking and choosing what is best for each kid along the way. I'm bad a memorizing scripture, always wanting to, but never getting around to it, so this list helps me a lot. As I begin teaching my kids it will force me to memorize them too, at least while they can't read. I figured I've already got the list so why not share it. If I can help make this so unachievable task a little easier for someone else, why not do it?! I will continue to add to it as I find more and more through my own study. So here it is. Just click the link and you can view it in google. I organized the verses by the earliest age I wanted to start kids learning the verse, PK (pre-k) being the youngest and MS (middle school) the oldest. I recorded the verse topic or paraphrased what it is, because I'm horrible a references. I also listed any method/materials that exist for each verse to help aid memorization or give further insight on the verse. There are also columns to list a child's name and record which ones they have learned, that way I can print it and keep track, hopefully helping them keep them fresh in their mind.
Right now we're doing the verses I listed in the beginning of this post. Our newest addition is Psalm 56:3-4, which I've added to the songs we sing at bedtime. There's no schedule. He may not say it until he is three, but we're just trying to learn and make it a fun special time. He's hearing God's word daily and that's what is important. Retrieved from chickensandchalkboards.com || posted May 16, 2015 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. Matthew 21:15-16 One thing I was so excited for about having kids in the house was having the excuse to be a kid again. Children and dogs seem to share the wonderful trait of always finding joy in everything. Kids have such a sense of wonder and curiosity over the simplest things, everything to them is new and exciting, ready to be explored. Their little minds exploding in curiosity and everyday discoveries. They help you learn to love things you once despised and to make things that had become dim now bursting in new life. The busy road outside our house, that I can sometimes so despise, is a favorite of Danny's. He loves watching all the traffic go by. We spend several evenings when he is tired just watching cars, and I find myself at times wanting a car to come because the road has been quiet for so long. Never would I have thought I would be wanting another a car to come down that road. You dont have to teach a baby to want to learn, discover, or imagine. Somewhere along the way we all allow the humdrum of life to overtake us, stilling our dreams, guffawing at our curiosities, and blending us all in like one another. We learn to complain about the dumbest things and quickly our kids pick it up too. Sometimes I welcome the rainy days. I love the pitter-patter sound the rain makes, but grey rainy days normally arent my thing and Im sick of them about this time of the year. Storms are different but that cold drizzle that most Ohioans seem to prefer to snow for whatever dumb reason just irks me. Like everything else, little Danny loves it. He quietly watches the rain patter against the car window and streak past. He loves to look out the window at it is splattering in the garden and grab at the droplets on the window as they slip and slide down. It reminds me of the A.A. Milne poem that my mom and grandma used to say to me as a kid. I've always been the type that when a friend tells me they've grown up, we tend to fall apart. Growing up means you sit around mulling over life with your friends and a glass of wine, and its just not me, at least not for another 20 years hopefully. Im the one that wants to still play tag with the kids on the playground and have stupid crazy dance parties. When we go for a drive I still notice the good trees to climb and the good sledding hills. Just the other day I was scouting out a good place for a swing and was contemplating adding climbing planks on the tree branches so little Danny can one day get to bigger heights, and he's not even crawling yet. Ive thought about figuring out a way to put a switch on the security light over the driveway so we can get the yard extra dark for Ghost in the Graveyard, and Danny and I have dreamed about glamping out the truck for the perfect meteor shower backyard campout. Baby chub is nowhere near needing any of those things yet, but he will get there. For now we spend the day finding baby appropriate discoveries. Last summer I was looking out at our yard, well speckled with golden dandelions and thinking how pretty it was. I remember thinking how wonderful it would be to have a kid tromping through all of them, giddy over the endless number of puffs there were to collect. As adults we hate dandelions, they over take your yard, can somehow manage to matrix the lawn mower, and suddenly stretch super tall with their ugly puffs, planting millions more with the next gust of wind. A kid however, can see their beauty, finding endless amounts of joy in them. I remember their was a lot at the end of my grandmas neighborhood that was overgrown with dandelions and I was jealous of how many there were. I always wanted to get down there when they were puffy and run and spin through the field, kicking up as many puffs as possible as they followed me along in the air. I would pick a bouquet of them to take home, but get so frustrated over how I could never manage to keep them perfect by them time we got back. Id give me mom yellow stamps by rubbing the flowers on her hand, and always wanted a crown out of them. Kids love to give bouquets of dandelions and so many times at school, kids would pluck one up for a teacher, yet too often as adults we look at that gift through adult eyes and forget exactly how precious that gift is in the eyes of the child. It was peak bloom of the dandelions the other day and little Danny was enraptured by them. At first he couldn't understand where the puffs would go when he scrunched them in his sweaty hand but then he learned to fluff them with his finger tips or wave the whole thing in the air. Eventually, all he wanted to do was eat them, which he didn't like, and I preferred not to have to dig them out of his mouth, so I would blow them in his face and he would try to catch them. Even Elmer enjoyed it, jumping and barking, trying to get them and stealing empty stems from Danny. By the end Danny was covered in fluff and I'm still picking it out of the stroller, even found some in the bed this morning, but he loved it and I was so happy to get to experience the joy of dandelions again. It was one of those wonderful afternoons where the sun was casting its warm evening glow across the yard. The chickens were clucking around and the hum of lawn mowers could be heard at every house. Baby Danny was just kicking back in a t-shirt and diaper and we enjoyed a simple dinner of grilled cheese on the deck. We watched the chickens eat up their last bugs and hop into the coop for the night as the tree frogs awoke and began singing in the woods behind. My wish for you little one is to never lose your sense of wonder. People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them.
Mark 10:13-16 |
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