growing

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growing

While my 14 month old still crawls, and seems content to do so, I often remember that my 2 middle children walked before they were 10 months old! The oldest walked just before her first birthday.

And I am struck with these differences.

Some of it does have to do with gender, and how girls and boys mature differently. But people in general mature and grow differently-at different paces, in different orders.

baby toes

Our oldest was speaking fairly clearly with full words at 11-12 months, but she never crawled until about 2 weeks before she started walking… right before she turned 1.

The next two both crawled by 5/6 months and were walking soon after, but they both had trouble forming words coherently until they were well past their second birthdays.

This little baby-man we now have… he took his time learning to crawl. He is taking his time with walking too. And I think he’ll follow those two who took their time talking also.

walking up stairs

And I found a lesson to be learned…

every person will grow differently from every other person.

We may meet someone who has had similar experiences as ourselves, but they will not have grown exactly the same. Even siblings, growing up with the same parents, same house, same experiences, same church, same everything… still become different people. And they learn things in different ways and from different circumstances. They even learn the same things in a different order.

And so do baby Christians.

Just because a person was saved at the same time you were does not mean they will automatically be at the same place spiritually that you are every step…. even if you’ve been in the same church and had similar experiences.

And we cannot push people to learn something other than what God is teaching them –right then. Others can observe my growth and be encouraged that God is not done with them. And in turn, I can observe their growth and realize God is not done with me, either!

sisters walking

I may learn a particular lesson earlier in my Christian walk than my husband or a friend, but that does not make me more spiritual. My husband had learned many things I had yet to encounter when we were first married… and now the Lord allows him to be right there helping me through as I learn them later-in different ways.

All of that to say, every other person is going to grow and mature in a different way than I do, just as each of our children grow and learn differently. And I cannot and should not try to push or shove people in their Christian walk…

I must gently guide those the Lord puts in my path to guide {my children, a SS class, close friends, etc}.

I must pray for those He does not give me the authority to instruct {other people’s children who are not in my care, people who do not know my testimony, even those who simply seem to resist me as a person}.

And I must be an example to any who care to observe my life that God does indeed grow people. And I must allow Him to work!

While my 14 month old still crawls, and seems content to do so, I often remember that my 2 middle children walked before they were 10 months old! The oldest walked just before her first birthday.

And I am struck with these differences.

Some of it does have to do with gender, and how girls and boys mature differently. But people in general mature and grow differently-at different paces, in different orders.

baby toes

Our oldest was speaking fairly clearly with full words at 11-12 months, but she never crawled until about 2 weeks before she started walking… right before she turned 1.

The next two both crawled by 5/6 months and were walking soon after, but they both had trouble forming words coherently until they were well past their second birthdays.

This little baby-man we now have… he took his time learning to crawl. He is taking his time with walking too. And I think he’ll follow those two who took their time talking also.

walking up stairs

And I found a lesson to be learned…

every person will grow differently from every other person.

We may meet someone who has had similar experiences as ourselves, but they will not have grown exactly the same. Even siblings, growing up with the same parents, same house, same experiences, same church, same everything… still become different people. And they learn things in different ways and from different circumstances. They even learn the same things in a different order.

And so do baby Christians.

Just because a person was saved at the same time you were does not mean they will automatically be at the same place spiritually that you are every step…. even if you’ve been in the same church and had similar experiences.

And we cannot push people to learn something other than what God is teaching them –right then. Others can observe my growth and be encouraged that God is not done with them. And in turn, I can observe their growth and realize God is not done with me, either!

sisters walking

I may learn a particular lesson earlier in my Christian walk than my husband or a friend, but that does not make me more spiritual. My husband had learned many things I had yet to encounter when we were first married… and now the Lord allows him to be right there helping me through as I learn them later-in different ways.

All of that to say, every other person is going to grow and mature in a different way than I do, just as each of our children grow and learn differently. And I cannot and should not try to push or shove people in their Christian walk…

I must gently guide those the Lord puts in my path to guide {my children, a SS class, close friends, etc}.

I must pray for those He does not give me the authority to instruct {other people’s children who are not in my care, people who do not know my testimony, even those who simply seem to resist me as a person}.

And I must be an example to any who care to observe my life that God does indeed grow people. And I must allow Him to work!

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teaching respect

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to respect carries the idea of “showing regard to, paying attention to”

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Psalm 119:6

Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

[If I pay attention to and regard God’s Word, I will have no reason to be ashamed.]

Colossians 3:23-25

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

[when we disregard God’s commands we will receive proper judgment just the same as the next person. No one is exempt from the consequences of his actions.]

Psalm 138:6

Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.

[God will take notice of those who show humility.]

Some things we are commanded by God that show our respect for Him.

Ephesians 6:5-9

Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

Hebrews 13:7

Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: [and the end of their conversation is this] for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

Just because I am “all-grown-up”
does not mean I do not have any authority over my life. untitled shoot-210-2-48
And as usual,
the best way to teach our children is through example.

 


I will teach my children to have respect for each other and their classmates by showing respect for them and other children we come into contact with and also by how I interact with my own peers. 

Part of being respectful is trying to anticipate needs and being responsive when needs are made known.

If I see that someone is walking towards a closed door with her arms full and I have nothing, and I do nothing to help, that is being disrespectful to her as a person. But if I speed my steps just enough to get there and open the door for her, I have shown respect. And it is of no consequence if I even know her.

I will teach my children how to have respect for their teachers and other authority {boss, police, laws/government, etc} by how I show my respect for those individuals.

If I take matters into my own hands even after clear instruction from an authority, then I am teaching my children that they, also, can pick and choose which instructions they wish to obey. But when I do all within my power to do what is expected {whether clearly stated or not} and do not make excuses when I cannot accomplish it, I teach my own children responsibility as well as respect.

And as a stay-at-home-wife/mother, my closest human authority is my husband. That is not to say he “bosses” me, { 🙂 } but he IS, Biblically, an authority in my life. And how I respond to his requests, how I convey my attitude after turning from him-body language, facial expressions… that says more than any words.

And when my children see me disrespect their daddy, they WILL show disrespect to others.

And they will not understand when someone tries to correct them. Confusion will ensue. 

Since my children leave me for the day to attend school, the next most important authority relationship is with their teachers.

I wrote a little about how I must be willing to allow others to correct my children here.

And that lines up with teaching them respect, which in turn contributes to teaching responsibility! 

So each day, my life is about more than “my life.”

Much of my life is about teaching my children to respect others and how to show that respect through kindness of actions and words.

My life is about striving to BE the person God created me to be… so they can learn to be the person God wants them to be!

blackeyed susan

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answering {simple} questions .3

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As before, I must preface this by saying that only if you as the parent/adult are already saved  
can you truly answer a child’s questions regarding salvation. 
Only God can guide your words to speak appropriately.
6. How does being saved take your sins away? 
and
 7. Can a person be saved without asking Jesus?
I’m taking notes, Momma!
{I have not personally ever heard small children ask these questions, and some of these thoughts may be a little hard for very small children to understand, but I pray this can be a launching point for your own study into how to answer your own sweet babies.}

When you understand that you have sin in your heart and believe what the Bible says about why we have to be saved to live with God in heaven and you make the choice to ask Jesus to save you , then Jesus takes away your sin. He does that by being a substitute. When you do wrong, you have to be punished. But if someone else takes your punishment [maybe a friend gets a spanking or put in time-out FOR you], that is a SUBSTITUTE. that friend takes your wrong as his own responsibility,  and that is what Jesus did for us! When He came to live on earth as a baby and then grew up without ever sinning and then died on the cross, He became our SUBSTITUTE. Because he was not guilty of any sin, as we are, God allowed Him to take our punishment. He took the responsibility for our sins.

The Bible tells us very plainly that no one can enter heaven without accepting Jesus’ SUBSTITUTION. In John 14:6, Jesus said: No man cometh unto the Father [lives with Him in heaven] but by me [trusting Jesus]. And in Acts 4:12, the Bible tells us this about Jesus: Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name [JESUS] under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. We cannot be good enough or go to a certain church or be baptized to help us get to heaven. Jesus is the only path that leads to living with God in heaven forever.
Some Scripture Reading:
I Corinthians 15:3,4
II Corinthians 5:17-21
Galatians 4:3-7
Ephesians 2:4-9
Titus 2:11-14
{There are many more Scripture passages that deal with all of these salvation questions, and only individual Bible study can help you find them all. I have only tried to include a few passages to help you get started.}


preserve. guide. bless.

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treePsalm 25:21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.

Proverbs 11:3 The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.

Proverbs 19:1 Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.

Proverbs 20:7 The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.

Apparently, integrity is something that can guide us. can preserve us. can bless our children. It is on the same level as uprightness– better than having riches.

I want integrity.

I want my children to have integrity!!

integrity: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; the condition of being unified, unimpaired, or sound in construction; internal consistency or lack of corruption in electronic data

When most of us think of integrity in people, we probably are thinking of the first part of the definition: being honest and having strong moral principles.

Are we honest? Obviously, we should not speak our whole mind about others or to others [Proverbs 29:11 A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.].

But sometimes we are not even honest with ourselves. We say we do not care what others think, but we do; AND we SHOULD. We should care what others think, but only to the extent of HONESTLY examining our own lives and actions.

To care about what others think does not mean I will compromise the cause of Christ–and my children need to understand that, too.

I must not brush aside when others correct my children or make known a fault {no matter if it is done rudely or tastefully}. 

I must teach my children how to handle correction- with humility and honesty.

But also, we must deal honestly with others.girlsbridge

Speak honestly.

Pay attention that we do not take advantage of others’ generosity.

And keep watch that our children learn this.

Even further, are we honest with God? in our opportunities to witness, with using the talents He has given us, in our giving. Only an individual can examine his own heart, but we must also remember that others see our actions.

[We should care what others think, but only to the extent of HONESTLY examining our own lives and actions.]

Beyond being honest, do we have a Biblical sense of morality? I stress Biblical because today’s morality is changed from the morality my parents grew up with. We cannot flow with society in this.

Do I teach my children what the Bible says about right and wrong? Do I teach them consequences? If not, they will have a rude awakening one day. Do I give them an example of truthfulness and responsibility?

Simple ethics and expectations of good behavior, a Biblical sense of justice and modest propriety seem to be a thing of by-gone days.

But as mothers, we can help CHANGE that!

     by TEACHING our children to have integrity.

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answering {simple} questions .2

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answering {simple} questions .2

As before, I must preface this by saying that only if you as the parent/adult are already saved  
can you truly answer a child’s questions regarding salvation. 
Only God can guide your words to speak appropriately.

 

3. Why does a person need to be saved?
4. What is sin?
and
5. How old does a person have to be to get saved?
How can I understand, Mom?
The Bible tells us that every person has sin in his heart. We also learn from studying God’s Word that God cannot have sin in heaven, and if we keep sin in our heart He cannot hear our prayers [except for the prayer of salvation] or allow us into Heaven to be with Him.  We have to ask Jesus to wash away the sin in our heart to have God take us to heaven.
Simply put, sin is breaking God’s Law. Another simple explanation of sin is “anything that I may think, say, or do that does not please God.” some examples are: lying, hitting, disobeying, thinking mean thoughts. {Be specific when dealing with your own children. Give examples of things you know they have done that are sin.}
If you know the difference between right and wrong and you understand that there are consequences to doing wrong, then you are old enough to be saved. There is no specific age that God says, “You cannot be saved before you are xxx years old.” But neither is there an age that God says, “All people are old enough after they are xxx years old.”  {If your child is asking these questions, it is possible that they are indeed ready to make the decision to ask Jesus to save them. But this is an area where parents must ask God for wisdom in guiding each individual child.}

some Scripture reading: [again] John 3; 14:6; 
Romans 3:23; 5:6-21

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answering {simple} questions .1

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answering {simple} questions .1

I must preface this by saying that only if you as the parent/adult are already saved  
can you truly answer a child’s questions regarding salvation. 
Only God can guide your words to speak appropriately.
1. What does it mean to be “saved”?
and
2. How does Jesus come into our hearts?

 

These answers will be written the way that I would address a small child [under age 5]. Children can understand so much, but we must also be aware of just how literal they are!
because one day they will need to know how to hold God’s hand!

 

“Saved” means that you have asked Jesus to come into your heart and wash away the sin. [This does not mean that another person is going to come into your body. It is not something we can see.] This is also called being “born again.”
This also means that you have Everlasting Life. which means that when you die you will go to heaven to live with God. Those who understand this and choose not to “get saved” will not go to heaven but hell when they die-living an eternal death.
Jesus will only save you or come into your heart if you ask Him to. He then becomes a part of your life and He can help you in your mind to choose to do right instead of wrong. He can help you think good thoughts and be nice to others. He can help you be strong enough to help others {such as a younger brother or sister} choose to do right, too.
some Scripture reading: John 3:1-21 [especially: 16,17] 
and Acts 2:21 & 10:13; 16:30-33.

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{teaching} with evidence

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When children see evidence of God’s importance in Daddy’s and Mommy’s lives  and are trained to also be involved, it becomes a part of their lives. 
There is a marked difference in the attitudes of children towards authority between those who are taught that God is Important and those who are left to figure things out on their own [Proverbs 28:26; 29:15]. 

Children must be continually exposed to God and His Word and His Love and commands in order for them to become a part of their lives. 
If God is important to us as parents it will be evident to our children when they are in Sunday School every week and when we read the Bible [even just a verse and explain it] with them each day and when we pray for the difficulties we face and when we praise Him for all things. It will be evident when we participate in the ministries of our church or go out of our way to be helpful to those in need.

Children with parents who are passionate about “being green” learn how to recycle and repurpose, because their parents DO it. Those whose parents are avid about “organic food” will learn about the nutritional value of different foods and the negative effects of pesticides and processing, etc because their parents are DOing something. Those who are fervent in their quest of an organized home & life teach their children the importance of everything having its own home and putting it there by always having them put things away as well as DOing it themselves.

In the same manner, parents who are are dedicated lovers of God WILL teach their children who God is. We will prove that He is our Creator and that He is to be revered and praised and worshiped and served with our whole life. with our actions.

{teaching} God is

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{teaching} God is

Before our children can know to ask us about salvation we must teach them about God.

C

the little man

All men are born with the knowledge of God written in their heart [Proverbs 14:1, Romans 2:14-16].

But this does not mean our children will automatically know God.

Man is born a sinner. Even as a babe, we are all sinners. If you have children, you cannot dispute this fact. A child left to himself brings shame on his mother [Proverbs 29:15] …don’t ask me how I know this!

Since the same heart that knows God also contains sin, the knowledge of God must be cultivated to become knowing God.

People do not know who He is without being taught. Yes, if a lost man seeks for God, God will not hide himself [Jeremiah 29:13].

But we must teach our children who God is.

And we must teach our children to KNOW God- and the earlier the better.

In the first hours and days of each of our children’s lives they had several people telling them them “Jesus loves you” often … through words, song and even action. These people included us as parents, our parents,. and church members who visited.

My children are greatly blessed.

Of course, my babies had no idea what we were saying; but as they grow and learn from Bible stories and Sunday school and family devotions that Jesus is God and God made us and loves us and wants to be our Heavenly Father, a sense of God is All-Important is instilled in their hearts. And this is fundamental to their ability to realize their need of a Savior at an early age.

When children are taught this, it is fact in their hearts [Proverbs 22:6].

And if the knowledge that Jesus loves them and He is ALL-Important becomes as integrated into their being as the fact that Daddy and Mommy loves them, the root of faith takes hold.

….even while still a baby.

girlsbridge

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