Again with the Yardstick List

.........So how are you doing on your Yardstick List?

If you don't normally follow my blog, this is the list of characteristics and traits that you want to see in your child as they grow up. Like as they grow up the yardstick in height are they changing in character, or you teaching or modelling traits that are representative of a Christ Follower?

So, have you made your list?

Have you developed some sort of strategy to teach these traits?

Are you and your spouse both working on the same Yardstick List together?

I found a new book that I think will help parents develop their list and the strategy to move forward on it.

Revolutionary Parenting by George Barna

Great for couples to go through together. It also has a workbook, and a leader's guide to lead a small group through together. Great stuff!

Smelling like Jesus

It's Spring...........things are budding. It is beautiful to the eyes. It feels good to the skin for the temperature to be warmer. I hear people talking about opening their windows and enjoying fresh air. But for me - it is like walking through a haunted house. There is something waiting to be sucked up my nose and send me into a sneezing fit! The outside looks scary. You see, I have allergies. What is beautiful and fun for most - holds the potential for a migraine or coughing attack.
Because of my history of allergies, I tend to stay inside. I don't want to let my senses experience the spring time. Because of my history, I don't trust the air outside! Maybe I should just become the bubble lady!

2Co 2:14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 2Co 2:15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 2Co 2:16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

I thought of my allergies as I read 2 Corinthians a while back. You see, we are supposed to be the fragrance of God to our neighbors and friends. It should be the sweet fragrance of spring. But sometimes:

• We aren't sweet.
• We don't help people see the beauty of God.
• We don't look or smell like God at all.

The result is that we make people hurt - like my allergies do to me. Then our friends, neighbors, and our children become afraid to experience God again.

I don't want to be an allergen fighting against the aroma of God. I want to truly look, feel, and smell like Jesus. I want people - especially my family - to be drawn to God because of the way I treat them.

So how do I fully take on the aroma of God.........................

2Co 2:14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

God help me:

• let you lead me
• let you fill me
• to spend time with you and get to know you better
• to take on your aroma
• to smell like Jesus all the time
  

As Different As They Can Be

We have 3 kids. They are as different as they can be.

• One is quiet, compliant, loving, and cares for others.
• One is direct, rational, to the point, and yet very giving.
• One is funny, friends with everyone, loyal, and truly loves people.

We have 3 kids. They are as different as they can be. They are all Aggies - whoop! They have all approached their school work and careers totally differently. They all have a relationship with Christ - WooHoo!! They all followed a different path to start that relationship.

• One felt the love of God and how He had made her so special..........and that led her to faith.
• One saw his sin and need for salvation .............and that led him to faith.
• One craved a relationship with Christ.........and that started her faith walk.

We have 3 kids. They are as different as they can be. Thinking about the 3 paths they took to start their walk with Christ, made me realize how important it is to offer children the truth of God in many forms. You don't know which is going to strike a cord in their heart. You don't know which is going to be the "lightbulb" for each one of them. They are not cookie cutters of you, so don't assume they will accept faith as you did. God created each one of them individually, so don't assume their relationship with Christ will look just like yours does.

We as parents must not assume our children will follow our faith path. We must not assume that what sparked our journey will spark theirs.

• We as parents must share the truth of Christ with our children in many different ways: relationally, as a product of God's love, as an answer for our sinful nature, as God's perfect plan from the beginning, .............. You don't want to miss the one that resonates with each of your children.
• We must be creative as we show our children our Heavenly Father by using many different mediums - books, poetry, nature, art, music.

We have 3 kids. They are as different as they can be. In every aspect of life, they will see the world differently. They will choose a different path. They will relate to us differently. And that is just as it should be! God is a creative God. He made each of us special and different. I don't think He expects us to all follow the same path. I think He enjoys meeting each of us in different ways and different places.

The lesson.............recognize and then enjoy your kids differences.

Psa 139:13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
Psa 139:14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
Psa 139:15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Psa 139:16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.