My husband and I are the biggest influences in their lives.
We help to shape them and raise them.
We are responsible for their little hearts and minds.
I am so thankful for God's grace when it comes to parenting. Because we will make mistakes. Of course, we do are best and we make efforts to show them how much we love them every day--- but life is messy, and we are imperfect. That's where grace comes in.
Now--one thing that bothers me about the holiday season is the emphasis on buying more and more gifts. The message seems to be "Gifts = Happiness." Stores are now opening on Thanksgiving day so that we can go buy more stuff! Many people camp out for black Friday and wait in long lines to purchase even more stuff. TV commercials seem to communicate to us that when we buy the perfect gifts, we have achieved some sort of victory. They also let you know that you can open a line of credit so that you can buy even more stuff and then worry about paying for it later! I'm not saying that we should stop giving gifts or shopping, but I am bothered by the huge emphasis that is placed on shopping and buying "more more more!" by our society.
I want to teach my children that Christmas is not just about presents under the tree, or shopping. It's about celebrating the birth of Jesus. Am I really teaching my children about the true meaning of Christmas?
I want to teach them about Jesus.
about caring for others.
about love.
about generosity.
Its something that I think more and more about now that my daughter just turned 3. She is learning and absorbing everything! Am I being the best model that I can be for her? It's time that I really examine my words and my actions---because this is what she learns. I need God's grace in order to be a good example for her. So that we can teach her and lead her to be a loving, kind person who loves God and knows Jesus as her savior. My son is still a baby, but it's never to early to start with him too! I want to be a good example of how to live. So--we definitely need to make a few changes and be more intentional!
I want to teach them about Jesus.
about caring for others.
about love.
about generosity.
Its something that I think more and more about now that my daughter just turned 3. She is learning and absorbing everything! Am I being the best model that I can be for her? It's time that I really examine my words and my actions---because this is what she learns. I need God's grace in order to be a good example for her. So that we can teach her and lead her to be a loving, kind person who loves God and knows Jesus as her savior. My son is still a baby, but it's never to early to start with him too! I want to be a good example of how to live. So--we definitely need to make a few changes and be more intentional!
I came across this blog post on aholyexperience.com about The Grateful Christmas Project-- and I was very inspired. One of the traditions that this family does every year is give gifts to the King. The children think about the needs of others around the world, and they give to others instead of themselves. We ordered the World Vision and Compassion International catalogs so that we can make this a tradition in our family. But beyond this, I want to start being more intentional about teaching Charlotte about God's great love for us, and how we can love and care for others. Not just around the holidays, but every day.
So my challenge: to think about more ways that we can be good examples to our children. and--to pray that God will help us in this!
So my challenge: to think about more ways that we can be good examples to our children. and--to pray that God will help us in this!
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