I came across this Scripture the other day that simultaneously stopped me in my tracks, encouraged my soul, and invoked worship of my Savior! Here is a simple model to follow, as it relates to parenting:
John 5:20a (NIV):
“For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.”
Jesus doesn’t have to say much to teach a profound message! We can apply this in endless ways, because it originates from His wisdom!
Show our children all we do.
This lesson Jesus taught me came a few hours after Mark and I had a simple conversation about book choices and how choosing good books correlates to our enjoyment of reading.
One of our daughters’ love of reading had slightly diminished recently and I correlated it with her innocent, yet thoughtless choice of books. Charlotte Mason referred to purposeless books as “twaddle” and it is the perfect word to describe foolish literature.
I love books and I love reading books to our daughters. I even love reading books about which books to read! I keep a list on my phone of recommended books – I have accumulated a large list over the past eight years! When I offer this daughter a feast of rich literature that has been researched for years, she delights in hours of devouring books. In contrast, when she grabs whatever cutely covered book she finds at the library that lacks depth and a captivating story line, she becomes easily bored and less interested in reading.
I didn’t want to take away her love and joy of reading so I hadn’t connected those dots for her yet. My husband gently suggested, “have you talked to her about this yet and explained it to her?”
Brilliant idea! And so simple!
Of course that is where I should start. Why not explain my thought process and my encouragement to give more thought to book choices? I can still allow her to make her own choice moving forward, but at least I am offering my perspective to show her all my ways. I also realized it is less loving to withhold this information from her.
When I woke up the next morning to enjoy my quiet time, this verse from John was staring me in the face.
John 5:20a (NIV)
“For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.”
Oh Lord, I love You and how personal and timely You are!!! Thank you, Jesus, for reminding me not to overcomplicate parenting, and for directing me with one step forward today: show our children all we do . . . we dearly love them and we pray this blesses all of our families today. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, amen!
Application:
One important way we can show our children what we do is by showing them how we spend time with Jesus. This is a goal of mine for the summer and I want to model it for our children, talk about it with them, and then help them spend time with Jesus on their own.
One great way to do this is by listening to the Dwell Bible App! Our girls love this option to have the Bible read aloud, especially by women and children through this app.
Bonus, just for fun:
If you join our email list before 7.1.22, we would love to send you a free downloadable Father’s Day card! This includes questions for children to answer so they can fill it out and give it to their daddy or grandpa, or a special male role model in their life!
Happy Father’s Day weekend!
Much love,
Laura