“I don’t know what’s more exhausting about parenting: the getting up early or acting like you know what you’re doing.” – Jim Gaffigan
3 Truths About Parenting:
Parenting requires HARD WORK.
Genesis 3:16a To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.
Raising children is a person’s greatest LABOR but it is also a person’s greatest LEGACY.
“The purpose of your life might not be something you do but someone you raise.”—Andy Stanley
Psalm 127:3-4 Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Likearrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
Parenting requires LEADERSHIP.
“The things that impresses me most about America is the way that the parents obey their children.” Edward, Duke of Windsor
Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Are you LEADING your children or are your children LEADING you?
Lead your children into a healthy ROUTINE.
Proverbs 22:6 NKJV Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.
Routines should not create STRESS, they should REDUCE it.
Proverbs 29:17 Discipline your children, and they will give you peace of mind and will make your heart glad.
Lead your kids into GENUINE faith.
Children don’t need a MOTTO to say, they need a MODEL to follow.
Deuteronomy 6:4-8 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
2 Timothy 1:5 I remember yourgenuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you.
Lead your children into enjoying FAMILY TIME.
Life is not measured in MINUTES, it is measured in MOMENTS.
Psalm 39:6a NLT We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.
Ecclesiastes 4:6 GN Maybe so, but it is better to have only a little, with peace of mind, than be busy all the time with both hands, trying to catch the wind.
Parenting needs GOD’S GRACE.
Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.
Matthew 11:28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary andcarry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
Romans 8:1-2 So now there isno condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
