We're jumping back into THE CURATED LIFE alphabet in this episode - marking places on the map of our new life in Christ in the Kingdom of God. You're in the right place if...
- you're ready to make a change - not just in what you're eating or how much you're exercising, but you're ready to look honestly at the stories you're telling yourself and at the relationships that are having a significant effect on your soul.
- you feel exhausted by performance-driven living and parenting and want to create a home where love, acceptance, and growth are non-negotiable.
- you want to understand how meeting your family's true needs can lead to deeper connection, joy, and spiritual health.
Doug and I are geeking out right now about the great resources on
Dr. Ben Edward's website. We're excited about nourishing our bodies in the way God designed them to stay healthy. And we're recognizing that our family relationships need nourishment, too.
Without relational nutrition, our relationships shrink instead of grow. Our relationships get sick instead of heal. In today's conversation, we're playing with an analogy that our families are the carburetors in our homes--designed to make clean energy with love, not fear.
Transformational relationships offer love in these individual-sized portions:
- Emotional safety
- Active listening
- Grace over performance
- Consistent routines
- Conflict resolution
- Encouragement and affirmation
- Presence and engagement
- Shared responsibility
- Spiritual growth
- Freedom to struggle
Learn more about offering this menu of relational nutrition to your family and linger in these TAKEAWAYS:
- When we struggle in a culture of fear, we often change the truth. The change conforms us to the patterns of this world and deforms God's story for our lives. When we struggle in a culture of love, the truth changes us. The change is called maturity, God's story for our lives. God calls this change transformation.
- In the kingdom of God, love is a process of meeting needs, not rewarding or punishing behavior. As parents, when we say "I love you" to our child, we mean, "I will meet your needs and help you tell your story more truly." We can say that to our children because we've let God say that to us.
- We can build homes where families intentionally prioritize transformational relationships, build emotionally supportive environments, and enjoy an identity-focused lifestyle that metabolizes the potential damage of excessive transactional relationships, emotionally immature environments, and a performance-obsessed lifestyle that feels toxic–because it is.
