Family Value #3

Make it Personal
"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts." Deuteronomy 6:6

Moses is saying that before we can ask who are children are becoming, we have to examine who are we personally becoming. To allow God's Word to be saturated into our lives. One of the mind shifts that I am starting to make personally, is to believe that one of the greatest things that can happen, is what happens in the heart of a parent. All parents will influence there children - whether for the good or the bad.

I have worked with children now for 6 years and the one thing that I love about them is their realness. They are so honest, and if I am having a bad day, or if I screw up in some way - they point it out. Humbling as it is, I love that about kids. I have found that when I express my heart to them, they respond to that and respect it.

For parents, I encourage you not to hide who you really are with your kids. Be honest with them so that they can see where God is working in your life. Allow them to see your relationship with God so that they know what it looks like. Be that positive influence on your kids and make it personal, allow your kids to see your faith in action by putting your personal and spiritual growth first. Allow your kids to see you pursuing a better relationship with God. Show your kids what it looks like to prioritize Jesus above anything else.

When you, as a parent, make it personal - it becomes personal for your kids. Some of my favorite stories that I hear from the kids in my ministry is when they talk about how their parents faced adversity and grew because of it. There is a story of redemption and restoration that God is writing for you - allow your kids to be a part of it.

When your kids see how God is restoring your life, they will see what God can do in them. That is a beautiful thing.

Wisdom

This past Sunday our kids learned about Wisdom during our KidZone hour. The bottom line for the morning was: Wisdom is knowing AND doing. It was all about the idea that life is hard and each day we face situations where we have choices to make. We may know the wise choice but having wisdom is acting on the wise choice.

When your kids get home from school today take some time to talk with them about their day. Ask them if they had to make a wise choice today about something and how it turned out.

I am trying out this new blog and I am pretty excited about it. If you know me at all you know that I am extremely passionate about Orange. The idea of churches (yellow) partnering with families (red) to create Orange.

This blog is an opportunity for parents to see what we are doing within our Children's Ministry at Memorial. But also for people to see deeper into my heart. I am looking forward to trying this out and seeing how it works.

Hope you enjoy...

“No one has more potential to influence a child than a parent.”
~Reggie Joiner

Orange

The idea of parents partnering with the church to raise their children into spiritual champions is a beautiful thing. The idea that parents take on the full responsibility of the spiritual health of their child and the church is there to guide them in that quest. Did you know that in a year the church has about 40 hours with each child, and parents have 2000 hours (that doesn’t include school, sleep, etc)? If we combined those influences, imagine how much of a greater influence we can have on the next generation. That is Orange. Combining red & yellow. Red being the heart of the family and yellow being the light of the church. This is my heart in ministry.