A Christian Community for Parents
What’s happening in your neck of the woods this weekend?
One of my favorite parts of Valentine’s Day is helping the boys pick out their Valentine cards for school. They are not that much different than the cards I picked out as a young boy, except for the characters on the front of the cards (although I think Scooby-Doo® has remained popular across all these years). And this year? My sons both picked out NASCAR® cards to give to their friends!
Although Valentine’s Day is about more than giving chocolate and flowers, these tokens of love still remind us of the source of unconditional love — God. Perhaps our greatest task in parenting is to show our children unconditional love on a regular basis. If you are like me, when I am tired, frustrated, or angry, I realize that I can only love my children unconditionally with God’s help. So as you open your cards and eat candy hearts, remember to give thanks to God for sending Jesus — His greatest gift of love!
Originally published February 12, 2009.
Read or write anything great this week? Leave us a link in the comments!
With today being Martin Luther King, Jr. day, I wanted to highlight some activities for children that teach about diversity. “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight”! Teach your children the blind love of Christ before someone else shows them otherwise.
1. Fingerprint Dove / Busy Happy Mom
2. Talking about Diversity with Children Using Playdough / Bonbon Break
3. 10 Children’s Books That Teach Diversity / She Knows
4. Where in the World Is Your Food From? / Kid World Citizen
5. How to Develop Emotional Intelligence in Children / Imagination Soup
6. It’s What’s on the Inside That Counts / School Counselor Blog
source: Emily Price
I went to see my chiropractor today. He asked me how I was feeling, I guess wanting to gauge how things have been and where to start.
“I actually feel great, ” I told him. “No lower back pain at all.”
For me to be able to say that is enormous. Over the last 4 years, I have struggled through immense pain; numerous episodes of my back being thrown out, spasming, and being unable to get out of bed; and who knows how many chiro, doctor, physical therapy, and spine specialist appointments. During my last pregnancy, my disc herniated, leaving me with sciatica that didn’t dissipate after the baby was born. (So a newborn and constant pain in the calf – woohoo!)
As I talked to my doctor, I realized the baby steps I’ve made toward healthier living and taking care of my back and myself. I started with physical therapy exercises. In September, I joined the YMCA and have been going faithfully to work on the elliptical or take water aerobics or Zumba classes. And then last week, I decided it was time to tackle diet. I made a fairly drastic change in my diet, but have taken so many baby steps toward healthier eating in the last few years that I know what to do and how to eat for health. I just haven’t always done it.
It’s not how most resolutions work, is it? We like to jump in, erase the drawing board, get results as fast as we can get a Big Mac at McDonald’s (which of course we would never do anymore … until January 20 or so rolls around, and we are hungry and tired of salads).
Whatever your resolution this year, may I suggest you take the whole year to establish it? Break it down into 12 baby steps to implement over the year. It may not be as fun or drastic. But I am guessing it will be a whole lot more feasible for you. And yes, parents, this may involve taking time for yourself. I know it’s hard! But we want our kids to see us as people … not just as their mom or dad, who gives them whatever they want and caters to their every demand.
Read a chapter of the Bible … exercise for 10 minutes … drink one glass of water. Just do something! And gradually, change will come.
Did you read or write anything great this week? We’d love for you to share it with us in the comments or by sending us a Tweet.
In the Evans’ home, we took the idea of raising kingdom kids seriously. But sometimes, we got distracted.
I remember when our kids were small. We took them to Disneyland and experienced the sights, sounds, and excitement of all that makes it wonderful.
We were looking around and enjoying ourselves. But somewhere between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, we lost track of our youngest child, Jonathan. I looked up, and I couldn’t find my son.
Panic set in, because there were thousands of people all over the property. And so we began a search for our son. We looked and looked. We fanned out, and we couldn’t find him.
Minutes went by; it seemed like hours. Our child was lost, and we didn’t know where he was. We called security to help us find Jonathan. I don’t really remember how long it was before we located him. He was looking in one of those windows, at all of the fancy stuff–the prizes and glitz and glitter. It’s surprising how some of that plastic, under just the right lighting, can become so alluring.
We all too easily become distracted.
We had lost track of him because we were looking at the things around us, too. He had become distracted. I had become distracted. We had become distracted. In the midst of enjoying a blessing for our family, we lost each other.
We did everything we could to locate him. When I found him, I hugged him (even though a part of me wanted to spank him). But I hugged him because of the joy of finding a child that was lost.
Our world today distracts children from parents and parents from children.
We are in a kingdom today that has plenty of distractions. These distractions have caused us to lose our children.
This earthly kingdom is set up to distract parents from children and children from parents. Parents are distracted by work, career, entertainment—even church can sometimes shift our focus from what we as parents ought to be doing. Our kids are distracted too. Online media, peer groups, social pressure, and entertainment vie for the attention of our kids.
Distracted parents produce children with a weak faith.
The result is a distracted family, acting separately, living anything but in unity, and treating this dysfunction as the norm. And then we wonder why our kids grow up with a weak faith.
Kingdom Parents have the high calling of raising kingdom kids.
Parents, you have been called to raise kingdom kids–in God’s kingdom. Kingdom parenting isn’t perfect parenting, it’s purposeful parenting, helping children learn to live under God’s divine authority, both today and in the future. I am here to assure you that you are equipped with everything needed to accomplish this high calling. I know this because God chose you to be parents.
Sure, you will get distracted once in a while. But kingdom parents will regain their focus on what really matters–advancing God’s kingdom in your immediate realm of authority, which begins with your family. Wherever you’re starting, it’s just the right point to say, “Okay God. Starting today, I’m about your business of raising kingdom kids.”
Raising Kingdom Kids Group Video Experience: Giving Your Child a Living Faith is a powerful tool created by Dr. Tony Evans. Based on the top-selling book, Raising Kingdom Kids, this multimedia package is designed to equip parents to advance God’s kingdom in their own family. It is great for individual, small groups, Sunday school classes, retreats, and church outreach events.
WIN a copy of this video experience from Tyndale House and ParentLife Online! Just use the Rafflecopter widget to enter. We have FIVE copies to give away!
Dr. Tony Evans is founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative, former chaplain of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, and present chaplain of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on nearly 1,000 US radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit TonyEvans.org.
