I've got a husband/dad play list I made for Jeremy, and I listened to two sermons yesterday directed toward men. I was surprisingly blessed by them even as a woman. Men as Husbands has got to be one of the funniest sermons I've listened to. Matt Chandler has a way of giving gut wrenching truths laced with hilarious anecdotes unlike I've ever heard before. I laughed harder than I have in a while and that felt so good. I was also reminded of just how much influence I can and do have on my man. So much can change depending on which word I choose to speak to him. I was left feeling encouraged to treat Jeremy with more respect, kindness, patience, love, mercy and grace. Not because he deserves it or because he earned it, but because he's mine. It's what the Lord desires and my obedience will lead to greater joy.
Men as Fathers also caused eruptions of laughter as I folded laundry. But more importantly, it opened my eyes to a tragic error I've made as a parent when conveying who the Lord is to my babies. I am first to stress to them that He is holy and that He deserves our obedience. When they lie or hit, I pull out the scripture to reiterate that the Lord hates that kind of behavior and that it saddens Him. I talk about how certain attitudes dishonor God and make others wonder about His reputation if we claim we're His and act like that. They hear all about the don'ts of the Bible. But what I've neglected to stress is the beauty of how God has shown His love and glory to us through all that we enjoy as humans. The sermon talked about how we must tie everything back to its origin. If Ella loves pink, lets talk about how creative God is that He thought up the color pink and lets us see it! If Noah loves lions, lets talk about how incredible God is for creating such a strong animal. Lets talk about how He figured out just how loud it would roar and how it would slowly stalk its food. We can talk about how God knew just how long to make the mane, or how sharp to make the teeth and claws. When Hannah tells me she loves chocolate, we can talk about how yummy it is and how good of a creator the Lord is for giving us chocolate to enjoy. We can talk about whether we think He likes dark or semi-sweet better, in bar form or chip, frozen in ice cream or sprinkled on a cupcake. It all ties back to Him, and I have failed miserably at showing the babies how to praise Him and thank Him for all of it. All things beautiful and wonderful and enjoyable, all things good and pure and precious...it's all because of Him. Sure, we thank Him for our food and our obvious blessings. But do the babies thank Him for the way sand glides through their fingers, mud squishes between their toes or a popsicle stains their tongues? No. They don't, because I don't.
Praying the Lord give me the grace to show my babies that the Lord is not only just, but gloriously fun as well. He is oh so good to us, and I want my babies to live in that truth.
3 comments:
Oh, I love this!!! I'll make sure to incorporate God's creativity in my conversations with the children. Can't wait to listen to these sermons. You really sell them. And I'm pleased with how you are using the iPod. I knew you would use it for spiritual food, and that is SO essential for really living. Love you.
Loved your post. I may have to listen to the sermon on Men as Husbands, sounds good. I like what you said in the ending paragraph, about praising God for not just the obvious blessings, but everything good he gives us, that we tend to take for granted. He DOES give us so much goodness to enjoy and we do need to praise and thank Him for it, something I often forget to do. Thank you for this post!
those were great sermons! Glad I'm listening to Matt Chandler now. :o)
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