Be Encouraged – See our Children as Blessings (Part 3)

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From Part 2 … The Lord wants mothers to be encouraged to see motherhood as a ministry that should not be farmed out or outsourced. The Lord also wants mothers to be encouraged see our children as blessings all the time.

– Post updated on July 2017 –

We are not to view them only as blessings when they are cute and obedient, or scoring A* and getting into brand name schools, or working in an MNC as a highly paid professional.

Children ARE blessings. Period.

They are not a liability nor a burden, as society labels them if they are born imperfect, have chronic illnesses, have special needs. If we don’t see them as such, then we need to change our perspective. Sure, sometimes children do not behave like blessings. And that’s where training them in the Lord needs to happen and it needs to start early – for both our sakes and theirs! I know that disciplining a child is not a pleasant exercise – for both mother and child, but it is critical if our child is to be a blessing. The Bible tells us to :

Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV)
Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.

and

Proverbs 29:15 (ESV)
The rod and reproof give wisdom,
but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother. 

There are no terms and conditions attached. God says so. His Word says so.

Training required!

Here’s a quick reminder since this is not Parenting 101 …

We need to teach our children basic manners, teach them self-control and teach them empathy.

There are waaay too many new fangled parenting philosophies out there. And too many “experts” out there trying to sell their books and conferences! And they often start off from the incorrect assumption that children are born with a clean slate. That it is the adults (i.e. the parents) who corrupt them.

But the Bible tells us that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. If you start with a wrong premise, you will end up with a wrong result. We need to go to our Bibles, read what God says and obey His word even in the raising of our children.

Especially when they are young

Don’t keep on saying as many are wont to do, “they are only children”.

It is precisely because they are children that they need to be taught so that they will not grow up to be wilful and rebellious adults who cannot control their tempers or their fleshly desires. Do not just wish for their poor behaviours and attitudes to just go away. Or think that they will automatically become considerate and helpful when they turn 18 or 21 or whatever age you deem adulthood to begin at.

They won’t.

Sure, eventually they grow up and out of your home and no longer any you. But are they a blessing?

Accountability

And here, I must qualify. As mothers (notice how people always blame mothers for ill behaved children and never the fathers???), we are to do our part in the training but they have to do their part in the obeying. If they choose to rebel, to fight back then they have to pay the price. Our duty is to instruct them in the ways of the Lord. Their duty is to obey the word of the Lord.

Each of us stands accountable to the Lord.

God and Adam & Eve

Please do not blame yourself if you have done your part but your children chose to walk away. Remember, God was the perfect parent and Adam and Eve still chose to walk away and disobey Him. As we are free to obey God, our children are also free to obey God …. or not.

Teach our children to choose wisely

As I am fond of saying to my children :

You are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequences of your choice.

I googled for the original source of this saying but the closest one I found was this one, attributed to Ezra Taft Benson (who has penned many wise sayings!) which says,  You are free to choose but you are not free to alter the consequences of your decisions. Similar but not quite the same. There is a cost to every decision we make. And we need to teach this to our children, as well as remind ourselves of it regularly!

…Next up – Be Encouraged to fix our eyes on Jesus …

Some questions to ponder this week :

1. Do you always see your children as blessings from the Lord?
2. In your opinion, what makes your children blessings or not blessings?
3. What can you do to see your children as blessings ALL THE TIME?

The full series of Be Encouraged

• Part 1 – Be Encouraged: Introduction
• Part 2 – Be Encouraged to see motherhood as a ministry
• Part 3 – Be Encouraged to see our children as blessings
• Part 4 – Be Encouraged to fix our eyes on Jesus
• Part 5 – Be Encouraged, not afraid
• Part 6 – Be Encouraged while living out the daily grind of life
• Part 7 – Be Encouraged to know that He is the God-Who-Sees
• Part 8 – Be Encouraged and embrace motherhood wholeheartedly

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