Surfin' Saturday ~ 11.26.11

Just a few thoughtful articles about parenting this weekend...

Spiritual Protection for Your Growing Child (or anyone else) ~ Ed Welch, CCEF
"everything is about Jesus. Not only was Jesus the focus of all their understanding of Scripture, he was also the way of change—all true change goes through him. Over the course of a few months in your home, would a bystander observe that you are talking about a person or talking about rules that seem unrelated to a person?

"...Scripture is a story in cosmic terms with allegiances, powers, rescues, all on a huge scale. “Accept Jesus in your heart” is much too tame. The King of creation has spoken to us in Jesus. Once you know him you will want to say, “Jesus, I am with you. You are my Lord.”

Creating Spaces of Personal Time, Focused on Hearing Hearts ~ Sally Clarkson
"I do not expect them to conform to me–I let them be who they are at this season of life and I have adjusted my own age expectations to enjoy and really delight in who they are at every stage. It has brought me much pleasure. But I had to give up a little of my selfish self to enter their world. And so did God, and became Jesus.

"...Discipleship is always an issue of relationship. It is not about curriculum, church attendance, rules, indoctrination, but always about reaching the heart."

Clang! Clang! Clang! ~ Whole Foods, Healthy Living
I really appreciated the honesty and the gentle rebuke of this post. Bloggers don't always have it together as much as they appear. And when we strive to do wonderful things for our families, be it cooking or organizing or saving money, we're not really serving them if we're not loving them in the process.