A Mother's musings

I find being a mother one of the most rewarding things that I have ever done. It is also one of the most challenging! Lately there have been a few challenges that have come up that left me feeling a little overwhelmed and not sure what to do. When that happens I try to always go to the place that has all the answers for raising children, Our Awesome God and his word, the Bible. I thought I would also share some of the verses with you in hopes of encouraging you also in your journey and I would love to hear any verses or ideas that have helped you as well.

• "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deut. 6:4-9 This passage really makes me think, because if I am always loving God in all ways and meditating ALL DAY LONG on what He has said and then if I am kindly sharing that with my children throughout everything we do, I think that will help all of us to have better attitudes and actions that will please Him.
• "Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Ephesians 6:1-4 No matter what modernists around us say, a Family is not made up of members that all should have an equal say about what can or cannot happen. God put the parents in charge and parents need to step up to bat and accept that responsibility. During our training however we do need to be respectful of our children, not making them get angry just for the fun of it or whatever. (I have seen this happen and I find it very disturbing where a parent will tease or somehow frustrate a child to the point of them getting angry and the parent is just doing it for amusement. ) We need to bring up our children with discipline and instruction as we learn from God's word.
• "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 This is such a great promise! Now if I can just (with God's help) do my part in doing a good job of training.
• "He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently." Proverbs 13:24 "Discipline your son while there is hope, and do not desire his death." Proverbs 20:18 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him." Proverbs 22:15 These verses aren't really popular any more but that doesn't mean that they are any less true. We need to be consistent with our discipline and we need to care enough for our children to be willing to do it. We want them to turn out well so that we don't have to mourn over their early spiritual or physical death due to the neglect of discipline on our part.
• "So that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children" Titus 2:4 One of my greatest duties is to love my husband and my children. In loving my children I am going to strive to seek what is best for them whether they think it is best for them or not. Love is such an important part of mothering. Without love all our discipline, education or whatever is not go to raise children that are a very productive part of society. Thankfully love comes pretty naturally but still sometimes we need to be reminded to really love our children.
• "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him, But let him ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind." James 1:5&6 If there is ever a time I know I lack in wisdom, it is in parenting! Thankfully we have a God who is will to give so very generously without laughing at me or criticizing. What an awesome God we have!

I thought that I would also seek advice from you all. One of our specific challenges lately has been having our children respect other adults and listen to them and obey them. They tend to think they are all just over sized playmates. It isn't that they never listen but there are many times that they just seem to ignore what they are directed to do. If I am in the area and know what is going on I make sure that they obey, however usually this happens when I am not around. How have you dealt with this problem if you have ever encountered it? What works for your family? I have some ideas I am working to implement but I would appreciate your suggestions as well.