One Saturday, Ted and I chose to spend our usual family day at the park. Ted spotted a fishing pole in my mother’s garage, where we are currently living (not the garage -her house) and he thought, with much excitement, we would finally fulfill our promise to take our kids fishing. Before I go on, I need to explain something. My children have had a particular question repeated to them, since before they could speak, by an un-unnamed someone very close to us. The question is this, “You wanna go fishin’?” Of course, it is a question that has now become a regular statement we use to convey an unfulfilled promise. It does not mean do you really want to go fishing? It means you promised me something, but I don’t think you really intend to fulfill it. Now, this un-named someone still has a habit of asking my kids this question, and the only one not wise enough to know better is always wondering when he is really going to go fishing. So, when Ted announced that we were really going fishing, our son (which I’m sure you have guessed by now) was thrilled!
I had some concerns though. Does the fishing pole work? Do we have bait? You aren’t going to leave the line on the water for 2 seconds before reeling it in like you always do, you know you have to leave it in the water for a while and be patient, right? All of the answers to my questions were met with a negative- Great! Well, not one to argue, I plastered a smile on my face and got us ready to go. As Ted was locking up, he turned around and glanced at the bed of greenery beside the front door and lo and behold, there, before his very eyes, was a worm. It was a beautiful worm too. (It would have made a great science experiment.) This must be a sign! We would catch a fish today.
Did we catch a fish? Let me just say, I’m sure the worm made a delicious lunch for our friend, the fish. I left with a headache and 2 whinny and miserable children (the other one was content with her bundle of flowers she picked along the way). And my sweet, well-intentioned husband had a very far-off look in his eyes.
Oh, well. That’s life- at least for us. In moments like this, I am sometimes tempted to look at life this way: It would be so nice to be locked in a room with a good book- alone. I don’t want to bother with this. I wish they made a special muzzle for whinny, fit-throwing kids.
Well, I’m afraid those are just thoughts of my selfish sin. Isn’t it wonderful to know that Christ does not have the same attitude I had with my children? Scripture says that he leads us with “cords of kindness” (Hos.11:14). It also says, “He does not deal with us according to our sin” (Ps. 103:10). What great news! So why should we, in turn, show our kids this same kind of love? Because, whenever they glimpse this wonderful kindness and tenderness through our efforts of loving them, they observe Christ’s love too.
So how do we show them tender love? Here are some ways: Pray for them, take an interest in them, listen to them, encourage them, be affectionate, and make some memories.
The memories we made, that day we finally went fishing, will hopefully become funny as we rehearse them later. But I plan on making deliberate choices to make our memory making times ones that my children will look forward to. Allow me to quote Ted Trip:
"The most powerful way to keep your children from being attracted by the offers of camaraderie with the wicked is to make home an attractive place to be.
Young people do not run from places where they are loved and know unconditional acceptance. They do not run away from homes where there are solid relationships. They do not run from homes in which the family is planning activities and doing exciting things. "
One way in which I try to make home an exciting place for my children, is by reading to them. It does take sacrifice, but I love to read, so I don’t mind. I am reading books like the Chronicles of Narnia to Audrey. I am just finishing up The Little House on The Prairie series with Laura and Timothy gets lots of picture books read to him. My kids know, that no matter what, bed time reading is the most exciting time of the day. What’s yours?
I had some concerns though. Does the fishing pole work? Do we have bait? You aren’t going to leave the line on the water for 2 seconds before reeling it in like you always do, you know you have to leave it in the water for a while and be patient, right? All of the answers to my questions were met with a negative- Great! Well, not one to argue, I plastered a smile on my face and got us ready to go. As Ted was locking up, he turned around and glanced at the bed of greenery beside the front door and lo and behold, there, before his very eyes, was a worm. It was a beautiful worm too. (It would have made a great science experiment.) This must be a sign! We would catch a fish today.
Did we catch a fish? Let me just say, I’m sure the worm made a delicious lunch for our friend, the fish. I left with a headache and 2 whinny and miserable children (the other one was content with her bundle of flowers she picked along the way). And my sweet, well-intentioned husband had a very far-off look in his eyes.
Oh, well. That’s life- at least for us. In moments like this, I am sometimes tempted to look at life this way: It would be so nice to be locked in a room with a good book- alone. I don’t want to bother with this. I wish they made a special muzzle for whinny, fit-throwing kids.
Well, I’m afraid those are just thoughts of my selfish sin. Isn’t it wonderful to know that Christ does not have the same attitude I had with my children? Scripture says that he leads us with “cords of kindness” (Hos.11:14). It also says, “He does not deal with us according to our sin” (Ps. 103:10). What great news! So why should we, in turn, show our kids this same kind of love? Because, whenever they glimpse this wonderful kindness and tenderness through our efforts of loving them, they observe Christ’s love too.
So how do we show them tender love? Here are some ways: Pray for them, take an interest in them, listen to them, encourage them, be affectionate, and make some memories.
The memories we made, that day we finally went fishing, will hopefully become funny as we rehearse them later. But I plan on making deliberate choices to make our memory making times ones that my children will look forward to. Allow me to quote Ted Trip:
"The most powerful way to keep your children from being attracted by the offers of camaraderie with the wicked is to make home an attractive place to be.
Young people do not run from places where they are loved and know unconditional acceptance. They do not run away from homes where there are solid relationships. They do not run from homes in which the family is planning activities and doing exciting things. "
One way in which I try to make home an exciting place for my children, is by reading to them. It does take sacrifice, but I love to read, so I don’t mind. I am reading books like the Chronicles of Narnia to Audrey. I am just finishing up The Little House on The Prairie series with Laura and Timothy gets lots of picture books read to him. My kids know, that no matter what, bed time reading is the most exciting time of the day. What’s yours?
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