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
Collette - I may not be a mum but I think this is a fantastic idea and I think it'll be a blessing for you and other folk who read it. I'm learning that God loves to teach me through my children - there's just stuff about His plans for us that I never understood until I became a dad and I'm so glad that He's doing the same with you and Colin. I love the honesty in your posts - keep going with that - one of the main things people have encouraged me in my speaking is that when you take a chance and be honest that you encourage other folk and you also give them the chance to encourage you and pray for you. Keep it up!
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