Sunday, November 4, 2012

Humanism vs. Biblical Parenting


Today I was mulling over some things in regard to parenting.

We are not interested in humanism. We are interested in the Biblical view on the condition of the human soul.  This has a massive impact on how we parent in this house.   We are interested in the affect of sin on a soul and the impact that Jesus has on that soul.  This impacts how we view every detail of life, but especially parenting.  
With this comes the fact that we do not follow every whim of psychology that comes along. We are interested in knowing what the Creator of humans has to say on how He created humans to be and function. Since He created us He knows us better than we will ever know ourselves, never-mind our kids.  I am interested in psychology only in as much as it fits in with the Bible.  I am not interested in fitting the Bible into psychology. Psychology fails.  Jesus NEVER fails. 
We are in the midst of growing wee girls into mighty women of God.  We are in the midst of training them to live a life of repentance. To live a life that will honour Him. At the end of this life our desire is for these girls to hear "Well done My good and faithful servant". 
We start by looking at the end so we know how to go about the beginning. 
It's not about stuff.  
It's not about self and ego. The less they learn to serve themselves the better off they will be. 
It is about who is on the throne of their life. Is it them? Is it someone else? Is it something else? Or is it the One who was meant to be on that throne?  The only One who can handle being there. The only One who deserves to be there.  Both of them have chosen whom they will serve.  It is our job as their parents to teach them exactly what that means: love God, love people. It's not complicated but it takes a lifetime to learn. 
We are not interested in raising girls with a strong self image. We are interested in raising girls who have their image firmly planted in their Maker.  They will know who they are and what they are about best there and nowhere else. Deep security, deep peace, deep strength, immense hope, boundless joy, unending blessing, the surest foundation, and true beauty is found only there. The other way leads to emptiness, misery, and frustration.
I realize this is not a complete thought. There is so much more that could be said. But I will leave off for now.


Bedridden

Since last Thursday I have been in bed.  No I'm not depressed.  I've been really really sick.  2 weeks ago Friday the girls and and got rear-ended.  I seemed all right except that my neck was sore.  Then on Thursday I started throwing up. I couldn't keep food down etc.  I have an ulcer that decided to appear.  Massive amounts of pain.  I have had an ulcer before.  This one is worse than anything I've ever experienced.  I was finally able to get to the doctor. He gave me meds.  They didn't work right away.  Still throwing up. It's a great weight-loss program.  So a week later I'm still in bed....it's distressing.
Life still goes on.  Things still have to be done, after all we have 2 children and we have a business.  It never stops.  We are quite busy and my darling husband was already stressed to the max.  So take me out of the equation and all of what I normally do falls to him.  He has been absolutely amazing.  He hasn't complained once.  I can just see him getting more and more tired.  The girls have been very helpful and worried.  My mom and friends have checked in every day.  I have been having great text chats.  Text chats are nice because you can do them as you feel up to it.
As Hurricane Sandy made it's way along the Eastern Sea Board and as we have been watching war documentaries about WWII  I was thinking about how blessed I am.  I am blessed that I have a warm bed.  I have clean running water. I have electricity.  I have access to the internet to figure out how to help myself get better.  I have stores nearby that I can send someone to to get healing things.  I have a wonderful husband who willingly and cheerfully takes on the challenge.  I have my mom and friends who care and do all they can to help.  Really, if one has to be sick, this is the most ideal place to be in.
We have had to cancel our trip down to Southern California.  That bummed me out.  But as a friend pointed out to me the other day, we have only post-poned it.  It's not cancelled.  The girls were very good about it.  They were really looking forward to the trip.  I guess this offered them a teachable moment in learning how to accept change, even disappointing change, with grace.
In all this is a very weird, isolated bit of downtime I am experiencing.  I do believe that there is purpose in it. I do believe that God holds my days in His hands and therefore this is not a waste. I shall look forward to seeing what that purpose is!