Thursday, June 9, 2011

Purposeful Parenting


As a Christian Professional Organizer my solutions to organizing everything come straight from the rock solid, age old proven methods of the Bible, no messing around.  I’ll take scripture and truth over trendy ideas and hypothesis any day.  You see, what’s trendy is here today, gone tomorrow.  Trendy is tactical, not for long term.

Purposeful parenting is more strategic than tactical.  Purposeful parents are thinking more about the effects of later - instead of what feels good right now.  Letting our children sit in front of the television for hours may feel fine at the time; in fact, TV is a great babysitter if we are only looking short term. That is tactical thinking.   Where the strategic parent, a Bible reading purposeful parent, knows that Genesis 8:22 is the law of the land and LATER we will be reaping the harvest of what was planted today… right now.  

Purposeful parents sacrifice.  If we aren’t sacrificing FOR our children, we ARE sacrificing our children.    There should be a lot we don’t do, say or watch simply because we are parents.  When I speak of sacrifice, I mean sacrificing our fleshly desires for the long term spiritual and emotional health of our family.   It is OUR JOB to teach self control and self discipline.  We need to be the example to show that when we practice self control, like any muscle, it gets bigger and better the more we exercise it!

We need to be SHINING LIGHTS for the Lord!  Simply by living and enforcing just these five things, we become more purposeful now, for a fantastic harvest you can count on later:

#1   As with almost anything we want to change… the transformation starts with us.   So the first thing is that WE must know the Word.   The Bible is our manual on how to live, how to work, how to behave, how to confront, how to handle, how to win, how to lose, how to love, how to everything.   To play by the rules, you must know the rules!

Matthew 22:29   Jesus says “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the Power of God”

#2  Our families must know God and what He says about them!  If our children don’t have the solid foundation and security that comes from knowing who their Creator says they are, then they are open to what the mass media says about them.  The media says you aren’t good enough unless ____________, or you are too _____________.  Fill in the blank, there is a program or commercial for anything you put in there!

Proverbs 22:6  “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it”

#3  Get the television and computer out of their bedrooms!  Do we really want our children to be isolated and away from us?  Christian parents whom allow this are not being purposeful.  Would we purposefully drop our kids off alone where people are speaking negatively about God, our families, or where they mock our morals?  Do we allow our children to be alone with other adults who don’t share our same values and beliefs?  You can’t even argue this point.

1: Peter 5:8  “Be self controlled and alert, your enemy, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour”

#4  Ah yes, clothing.  When we dress our princesses like girls who don’t respect themselves, it draws the attention of the one you want to guard against.   Here is one more time where we, as mothers, need to be the example.  Our little girls are set up for depression as soon as we set them up to believe how they look is most important.  The shorter the shorts are now, the heavier the medications needed later.

Proverbs 11:22  “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion”

#5  Give responsibility.   Accomplishing something makes us feel good, for a good reason.  Don’t you love to scratch something off the list when you’ve finished it?  Don’t rob your children of that!  Beginning by ages 3 and 4 they can fold clothes, put dishes away, clean rooms, pick up their own stuff.   Parents are crazy when they are rushing around doing it all and the kids are watching TV!  Responsibility creates character… plus you won’t be living with an unemployed character when he’s 40. 

Proverbs 19:18 “Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death”

 Yikes!    
                             
Because the Book that never lies says so, by following these 5 rules we will have happier, healthier Christian homes and we will be SHINING LIGHTS for those around us.  It’s a dark world, we are so desperately needed.    We tend to plan more for vacation than for our daily lives!  Remember, we only get a great harvest on purpose.  We only get true joy and confidence on purpose.  And we only get God’s best on purpose because our families won’t get to heaven by accident!

Christian Organizing at A1organizing.com

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