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Hearing of various sibling trials and troubles, I start to wonder how we had the same parents. I have two sisters and three brothers, all younger. Without a doubt I asked for and got most of the spankings and phew, I am glad for that! (I wish I had more!)
My mom said it is harder for her to have adult children, a big pit in her stomach now. I kinda remember when my parents burned out on parenting...it was about the same time they both started smoking again, sometime while I was in college. Almost ten years now they have copped out on their duties, claiming they can't say much to their 'adult' children. (Yet my mom has no trouble telling me where to to go, go figure...she knows that I will take it.)
So I see my sister just not having any principled Biblical thinking, no moral compass for her decision making, and I just gotta wonder what happened?! It boggles my mind that she is such a humanist. We sat at the same breakfast, lunch, and dinner table. We did and went pretty much everywhere together (until I went to 'real' school my senior year) How can we think so differently?
I have these two little girls, with such individuality and yet so similar and close. The long haul of mothering them has been made real to me as of late. I am only three years in to this gig. What are the critical elements in parenting children who grow up believers as opposed to a mixed or simply pagan bag? I am a firm believer in election, so it is God knows and works and saves....it won't be me "leading" my kids to Christ and just hoping. I know God promises me that he saves in generations. My heart sees Tryn already understanding that she needs Jesus. I am seeing that it's the day to day, that is where the rubber hits the road. The struggle to remain humbly submitting to God in diligence and prayer and faith, continuing to strive to give God the glory and not turn that subtly into a me thing too. God knows who He is, he does not need us to give Him glory. We are priveleged to have good works to walk in that he already knows about.
So, the burnout really scares me. Complicating this thought has been the observation of a few 50ish ladies lately harangued by guilt, weary from everything, and feeling that their brains are failing them. This is not a place of peace! Their fading graying heads seem defeated, uncertain and full of unnatural highlights. What sets apart the women who know themselves and those who are still trying to figure it out at 50? This I ponder. I have been reading a book called Captivating by Stasi Eldredge. It is the most practical book I have ever read on why we women are so screwed up and what heals us. The premise is that women ask one central question about themselves, "am I beautiful?" We try to find the answer to that question from our fathers, boyfriends, husbands. It isn't about outer beauty exclusively; we ask if who we are is lovely. The easy and complicated answer is that God has created each of us a uniquely beautiful reflection of His beauty....the only place to get a consistent answer to our question is Jesus. We tend to fluctuate between despairing and addicting ourselves to pick me ups. More later.
My mom said it is harder for her to have adult children, a big pit in her stomach now. I kinda remember when my parents burned out on parenting...it was about the same time they both started smoking again, sometime while I was in college. Almost ten years now they have copped out on their duties, claiming they can't say much to their 'adult' children. (Yet my mom has no trouble telling me where to to go, go figure...she knows that I will take it.)
So I see my sister just not having any principled Biblical thinking, no moral compass for her decision making, and I just gotta wonder what happened?! It boggles my mind that she is such a humanist. We sat at the same breakfast, lunch, and dinner table. We did and went pretty much everywhere together (until I went to 'real' school my senior year) How can we think so differently?
I have these two little girls, with such individuality and yet so similar and close. The long haul of mothering them has been made real to me as of late. I am only three years in to this gig. What are the critical elements in parenting children who grow up believers as opposed to a mixed or simply pagan bag? I am a firm believer in election, so it is God knows and works and saves....it won't be me "leading" my kids to Christ and just hoping. I know God promises me that he saves in generations. My heart sees Tryn already understanding that she needs Jesus. I am seeing that it's the day to day, that is where the rubber hits the road. The struggle to remain humbly submitting to God in diligence and prayer and faith, continuing to strive to give God the glory and not turn that subtly into a me thing too. God knows who He is, he does not need us to give Him glory. We are priveleged to have good works to walk in that he already knows about.
So, the burnout really scares me. Complicating this thought has been the observation of a few 50ish ladies lately harangued by guilt, weary from everything, and feeling that their brains are failing them. This is not a place of peace! Their fading graying heads seem defeated, uncertain and full of unnatural highlights. What sets apart the women who know themselves and those who are still trying to figure it out at 50? This I ponder. I have been reading a book called Captivating by Stasi Eldredge. It is the most practical book I have ever read on why we women are so screwed up and what heals us. The premise is that women ask one central question about themselves, "am I beautiful?" We try to find the answer to that question from our fathers, boyfriends, husbands. It isn't about outer beauty exclusively; we ask if who we are is lovely. The easy and complicated answer is that God has created each of us a uniquely beautiful reflection of His beauty....the only place to get a consistent answer to our question is Jesus. We tend to fluctuate between despairing and addicting ourselves to pick me ups. More later.
posted by Meg at 7:55 PM
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