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Hey there, 

You can now subscribe to this blog by clicking on Subscribe to Jesus Loves Mums. This will take you to a reader and you can then choose to receive e-mails when I post again if you wish.

Collette x

'Come and see mama, come and see the monster!'

My daughter, Emma (2 and a half) has created a new game.  This is how it goes;

 

  Emma - 'sssh!!  evwybuddy going to scware me.'

Mum - ' what's going to scare you Emma?' 

Emma - ' monster! going to scare me'.

Mum - ' where is the monster, show me where it is?'

Emma points to wall over at living room door.

Emma - 'ov there, come and see the monster muma!'

I head over and pretend to be scared of an imaginary monster, this delights Emma.

And so it goes on again and again until she tires of it.

Most of my day can be quite repetitive, for example; 

' Jacob, Jacob are you listening to me Jacob?'.

 Jacob is 'being' the Incredible Hulk and says ' I am not Jacob I am the Incredible Hulk' and I have to address him in this way as he runs about with no top on and scrawny arms while in his head he is green!!!

God gives us every moment of every day, even the boring ones and I am trying to be thankful for the ordinary as well as the extraordinary.  However, I am learning that there are also special moments in each day that bring us to look at our children in a different way, or to draw attention to their uniqueness.

 Emma loves to sing just now and just suddenly bursts into song after song. These moments make me fall in love with my children all over again and again. Don't get me wrong, there are times in the day where I could explode all over the place- mostly when they are having screaming competitions at 6am in the morning.

This makes me think of the verse -  'Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him.'Psalm 127 v 3. 

I think God is trying to teach me that my children are a gift and not my property.  These unique little people have their own sometimes bizarre behaviour.  As a parent I have the responsibility to nurture these people, train them but they are still individuals and not replicas of Colin and I.  Sometimes I don't like everything they do, in fact, let's be honest quite often!  But God has given me as a mum and Colin as a Dad the mammoth responsibility of encouraging them, disciplining them and loving them.  I am so grateful that I can pray for help with such daunting tasks! 

Collette x

Does God have a nose?

Jacob my little boy is nearly 5.  He has been asking me lots of questions about God lately.  He likes to ask these questions at bedtime and I think they start off as a procrastination technique to delay bedtime but he listens intently to my answers.  He asks things like, 'where does God live?','how do you get to heaven?,  why does God love us, make us, forgive us? Lately he has been asking about why Jesus died on a cross. 

Today he was watching a DVD about insects and the presenter spoke about how snails smell with tentacles.  Jacob pointed out that we have noses and then innocently asked,”does God have a nose?”  To this I answered “I don’t know” because I just don’t!! Thankfully the answers to the other questions are in the Bible . 

This questioning nature of children has made me contemplate how God has given parents a HUGE responsibility to raise our children in such a way that they will grow to love him and take Jesus as their own Saviour and Lord.  Thank God that he has given us the Bible as our guidebook for life as a Christian.  God has been showing Colin (my husband) and I that there is room for improvement in this area of our lives .  We are not perfect parents, we fly off the handle at the kids , worry, and shout.  Not all the time, but enough to cause us concern and make us reflect on just what kind of parents we want to be.

God has really been speaking to us about this through his word especially at Church.  We have been studying the book of Ephesians and just started Colossians.  These books help us understand the roles God has given wives and husbands, parents and children.  God, through Paul instructs –

'Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.' Ephesians Ch4, verse 6. 

In Colossians we are instructed – 'Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.' Colossians Ch 3, verse 20. 

'Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Deuteronomy ch 6, v 5 -7. 

These two passages are what Colin and I want to strive for with our strong willed children but we just never seem to hit the mark.  We need to ask God on a regular basis for his help through prayer.  My prayer life is certainly not what it should be at the moment but that is why I started this Blog.  

To help me clarify my thoughts, encourage myself and others, and to give me time to reflect on what God is teaching me. 

Love Collette x

Well here goes!

Welcome to my first ever post!  I was filling in the occupation part of my profile and wrote 'mum' and this made me think.  It is a full time occupation.  You are a cook, cleaner, nurse, accountant, peacekeeper.  Shouldn't we get paid!  God rewards us with the smiles of our children though.

Any thoughts?