Sunday's Thoughts

It has been a while since my last post. I have been dealing with some kind of nasty virus. This weekend I have started to feel better. This one really was a tough one! So, hopefully, I will be blogging happily again:)

I am reading "Teaching the Trivium" by Harvey & Laurie Bluedorn and just thoroughly enjoying it. I am highlighting and making notes. In chapter one the statement is made, "The potential for a true change of our culture lies with those people who renew and transform the family, because the family is God's instrument of choice for transforming a culture. Only through the transformation of the family can a society be restructured to agree with Christian order and the rule of God's law." I started thinking about that statement and so much agree with it. The family is so important in making an impact in our world. Every role within the family is important. What concerns me, is that our world is striving so hard to confuse or totally wipe out the roles that each family member has. Our world promotes a "do your own thing" with no regard to your responsibility to others. When families have that order that God ordains, you find peace, even within busy days and schedules, peace that makes an impact!

I think that we have got to strengthen our families and the only way I know to do that is through God. The study and reading of God's word within the home, praying together as a family, and letting each family member know that their role within the family is important. It is sad to me that there are so many shows that belittle the family or what is usually the case, the show makes the parents look stupid and clueless, while the children are much more savvy and smart. Or, the shows that show rebellion from the children as normal. Being a parent takes courage, time, patience, and most importantly an active prayer life. We have got to take our families back.

One of the ways, I believe, to promote family is to promote traditions within the family. One of our traditions is family movie night. This is normally on Friday nights. We make homemade pizza, have a special dessert, and gather for a family movie. We look forward to these nights. We gather with our quilts and have a great time. In the winter, we will have hot chocolate with marshmallows. Even though my boys are teenagers, this is a night that they look forward to. Sometimes, it can get easy to think these nights don't mean much and to let things slip in the planning for these nights ( I have done that!), but my boys will gently let me know that our movie nights are slipping and we need to plan better. This lets me know that they care about this tradition.

One episode of "Extreme Home Makeover" on ABC, showed a single dad with five sons ranging in age from pre-teen to older teens living in a high crime area. I mean drug deals would take place right down the street from their house. This dad made a huge statement. He said that he knew he needed to do something to keep his boys wanting to be home with him on the weekends when alot of bad things were going on down the street. He started having movie nights with his boys, spending the time with them, when he was really tired from just making ends meet. But, this act, this tradition, was huge within his family. His boys chose to gather with him instead of hanging out where they shouldn't be. The show made the family a special movie room in their new house. I thought it was an awesome statement by this single dad of five boys.

I just want to close these ramblings of mine with some scripture dealing with families.

"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward." Psalm 127:3KJV

"As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." Psalm 127:4,5KJV

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Ephesians 6: 1-4 KJV

"The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." Titus 2:3-5 KJV

Have a blessed Lord's Day!
Kim