This devotional blog follows each series we are working on with the youth, and my hope is that it will provide you with some material to reflect on in your own spiritual walk.  Remember that you are a huge influence on your child, even if they do not act like it!  Some of the most important things that you can do help your child grow and mature is to take time for your own growth, take time to nurture your marriage and/or relationships, and spend time engaging in real conversations with them.  I pray that God will bless you and your family!

Creating a Rhythm »
Wednesday
Mar212012

The Cross

Dying to something you want. It’s a concept we are talking to your kids about during The Cross series, but if you are a parent, it’s something you know very well. Parenthood is all about dying to yourself.

It’s dying to your plans when a child gets sick the day of your dinner plans.

It’s dying to your wants when that son who seems to never stop growing needs yet another new pair of shoes—and you make do with the old pair you’ve had for a few years.

It’s dying to your need for love when you say or do the hard thing for your child, knowing that a valuable lesson will be learned but that he or she will hate you in the process.

Parenthood is a constant process of putting someone’s needs before your own.

And because of that, we just want to say, “Thank you.” Thank you for making the hard decisions. Thank you for sacrificing your time. Thank you for working hard to provide for your family. Thank you for all the things you do, the decisions you make daily to die to your own list of wants and desires in order to help someone else. Thank you for being an example to your child of what it means to die to yourself—even if he or she is clueless about all the ways you do it. 

(Some day, your child will realize it. Trust us.)

 

© 2010 Orange. All rights reserved.  

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>