Is Christianity for Hypocrites?
Here we go, Sunday morning: put on your worship face! People who sin all week, and come to church pretending to be holy. Parents angry with kids as they get ready for church, and then walk in smiling. Promising yourself and God you'll do better, only to fall back into the same routine by Monday. Feeling condemned because you're certain everyone around you is better... or at least they think they are.
Back to School
It's an exciting time as kids start back to school and adjust to new schedules. I know I'm pretty pumped to have my oldest now in kindergarten and ready to face a whole variety of new experiences, exciting and challenging, and I'm already seeing a burst of him accelerating in growing up!
Growing in Identity
Who am I? Whether we realize it or not, we all are working toward answering that question, coming to an understanding of who we are. In fact, our children are in the foundational years of forming and understanding their identities. There are many influences working to shape their identity, and parents should take the lead in helping to shape and draw out who each child is.
Being a Hero
A parent is many things to their children. Just recently, our oldest son told my wife, "Mama, you're like a doctor, and a teacher, and a cook, and a cleaner, and you fix things, and you help us, and you tell us about God... You do all those things!" We wear many hats and play many different roles in our children's lives. Perhaps that's why many children would say their hero is their mother or father.
Pondering God
Do you ever wonder what your children are thinking? They have such amazing minds, and they are always thinking, always processing the world around them. I love a good laugh when my children say something off-the-wall, but I am always amazed at how much thinking went into such conclusions.
Apologizing to Your Kids
"Get over there and tell him you're sorry!" Getting our children to apologize can be tough at times, and while there is no exact method, there are right and wrong approaches. What has the child learned after resisting, staring at the ground, and finally muttering the words, "I'm sorry," before running off and resuming play?
Burdened by Guilt
How could I have done that? We all have those things from our past, however recent, that leave us feeling ashamed and terrible. Perhaps we can't seem to put them behind us, and we may even begin to define ourselves by those things. Should the guilt of our regrets eat us up? Is this what we deserve?
Stuck in Status Quo
Get up, go to work, come home, go to bed, repeat. Or maybe... feed the kids, do the dishes, break up fights, feed the kids, do the dishes, scold the kids, clean up messes, feed the kids, do the dishes, collapse into bed. Repeat. Whatever your daily routine, after awhile, everything can start to feel predictable and almost mechanical. We fall in line with habits of maintaining life, simply surviving from day-to-day. ... What is it all for?
Doing Life Together
The kitchen - one of the few places that perhaps everyone in your family intersects lives during the day. Or perhaps you don't even have that anymore. What once used to be a family is now a group of related people doing life simultaneously. And where does the time go? ... Blink, and it will all be gone. Children will have grown up and moved out. How well do you know your kids?
In the Face of Tragedy: What is God Doing?
Why, God? Do you ever find yourself thinking these words? They comprise a common question when tragedy strikes. In fact, this question itself is a major crossroads to faith in God - how could a God who is good and in control allow bad things to happen? Good question.