Remebering the Pastors words

Yesterdays sermon for Mothers Day was a great one. It got me thinking. I totally agree with what he said about trying to be parents instead of friends to our children. The following is an exert from the book I am writing. It goes along with the message. Its kind of like an "amen" to what you've already heard.

"we only get one chance to raise our children. We better not blow it. I would rather err on the side of too strict and too disciplined than err on the side of not wanting to push my children away from God. So many parents do their children the great disservice of letting them decide if they want to go to church or let them decide if they want to go to the youth function or let them decide what music or television shows they want to watch. My dear friend this is a huge mistake. We have to make strict and firm guidelines for our children even if they don’t like them. When your child is an adult then let them choose if they will serve God or not but while they are in your care say “…as for me and my house we will serve the Lord”, Joshua 24:15. We cannot afford to make the mistake of trying to be our children’s friends. Sadly, I have seen this too many times then the parents are left trying to pick up the broken pieces and wondering to themselves “where did we go wrong?” Again, please don’t get me wrong, I am not the be all to end all of parenting but God has put forth his word and it is clear enough so that even a child can understand it. My grandparents and parents are a great example. Raise your children the best you can. You only get one chance. They may not always agree and may even rebel but you know what is at stake even if they don’t. I have often used this example when talking to others about my parenting techniques who may not have agreed with me. Lets say you have a young child. He is playing in the front yard with his ball when suddenly it bounces out into the middle of the road. The child, not realizing the imminent danger of playing in the road begins to go out in the road to get his ball. If you stop the child from retrieving the ball you may offend him and make him not like you for a moment. He may even kick and scream because you have stopped him from doing what he wanted to do. Do you stand idly by watching and hoping a car or truck does not come by and run over the child? “Of course not! That would be stupid!” they say. Exactly! You run to the child and tell him the possible consequences of playing in the road and you tell him why he should never play in the road and you even punish him for playing in the road so he never does it again. You do this even though you know that for a moment you are your child’s enemy. Our child’s safety is the utmost priority. Why then do we have such a hard time transferring that same philosophy to our children’s spiritual safety? Is the spiritual well being of our children not far more important than the physical well being? We have got to take a far more pro-active stance than we currently see parents taking in our world today. It is with this foundation that we start to build against the storms of life that are sure to come to every one of us."

Parenting is a great responsibility but if we do our best and do what God has commanded us, it will pay great dividends to our children in later years. Happy parenting. I love you.

LW