Modeling and teaching love: It starts with Christ
“Above all else, love each other deeply” (1 Peter 4:8 NIV).
I’ve been so struck by these words recently that I even purchased a watercolor painting of this passage on Etsy, and hung it on our living room wall. Why? Because it’s definitely an area where I need improvement in my own heart and home.
When I consider if I’m loving my children “above all else,” this passage comes to mind: “If I…
Can Children Love God?
Hopefully, children experience love and the bonds of love from the time of their birth. Before their first birthday, they have developed smiles and other behaviors that indicate they know the people who love them are special and unique from the other people in the world. Children experience love from an early age, but when do they develop the ability to choose to love?
I taught my children to…
A love that will never leave you
My firstborn spent a semester abroad in his junior year of college. Like any mom who’s separated from her child, I knew the exact distance between him and me those months he was away. It felt like a million miles, but it was actually only 4,533, including one very large body of water. While he was away, we weren’t even on the same continent, and truthfully, I hadn’t expected the ache to be so…
The battle against shame starts in childhood
Since Genesis 3, shame has been Satan’s primary weapon against the sons and daughters of God. The reason shame is so powerful? Because it speaks to the core of our identity.
Shame is not only the sense that we’re not enough—but that we’re tragically different. Irreparably damaged. Unworthy of love.
Shame is the opposite of God’s love
In fact, shame is the satanic antithesis of God’s love.…
Fathering like the Father
“You’re a good, good father, it’s who you are…and I’m loved by you, it’s who I am” are the words to Chris Tomlin’s song, Good Good Father. These words sung to Father God are words that I personally hope I live up to in my fathering. I want to be a good good father to my children. I want to father like Father God. In fact, fathers are called to follow in the footsteps of their heavenly Father.……
Teaching Kids to Pray
Teaching your children to pray is a lot like teaching your children to love. If your child came to you one day asking how they could learn to love someone, what would you say? But truthfully, most kids will not ask that question because they won’t need to. They learn to love because they experience love.
Prayer is a love relationship with God. When your children learn to pray to God, they…
Struggle well: Fatherhood, love, and grace
Fatherhood is a struggle.
Don’t get me wrong. It is glorious, exhausting, worthwhile, exasperating, a blessing, and painful. It is all of those things and a struggle all at the same time.
Perhaps I should clarify what I mean by struggle. I don’t necessarily mean struggle in the sense of “I just can’t do this”—although that feeling is certainly part of it.
What I have in mind is the…
Love is a Gift. Respect is Earned.
Our kids understand they are loved unconditionally. We teach them there is nothing they can say or do that will cause us to stop loving them. That unconditional love gives them a strong foundation for knowing God and understanding his love. But there is another lesson that is equally important.
Most kids expect us to respect them like we love them. It’s a good day when kids figure out that…
When your calling is quiet: Serving others no matter your season of life
My husband and I settled in for the night and decided we wanted to watch a little something before bed. It had been a long day of work, errands, basketball games, and concession stand duty. A quick look at the schedules for our usual shows revealed we were all caught up.
Just then, I remembered an email promotion I had received that morning from RightNow Media. A new documentary from Francis…