i think it's uh it's interesting when we talk about how we were raised if we're raising a
christian home and try to juxtapose that against what it looks like now or what we may want to do
differently but i also think you know times are different too our culture doesn't have
a you know judeo-christian orientation right at large and so you could afford uh there were
seasons where um when my parents were being raised and even raising us where you could afford
to surely make sure you were giving your kids the information because the culture reinforced that's
right they really enforce the application of that information i think for me i feel that a part of
the difference in my parenting is because i don't feel like i have the privilege or the
benefit of expecting anybody else to reinforce it so that's so good we're constantly berated by
challenges to what i'm telling them it's different on tv than what i'm telling them it's different
in our neighborhood than what i'm telling them it's different when they watch the news
it's different so they're bringing the questions because they notice the difference and the
application of what they know to be true is different than i think what it was before i
told my oldest daughter my parents told me and so did everybody else so you just kind of got
to get into the flow of what everybody else was saying and i think there's this balance
because i do believe that you pour in the word i do believe that there is some instruction to it
i tell my children um particularly the boys we still memorize scripture together
yeah and um and my my oldest son said i just don't understand why i need it and i said but i do
right it's it's my job to know that you're going to need it it's your job in this case to memorize
it yeah you'll tell me thank you later yeah right i look at them and i say i know what not in total
but i know what the 40 year old version of you is going to want that's good so a knee is going to
need right and i don't just want you to have this drive by understanding of god probably would think
this i want you to know that's right this is what he thinks that's right this is where it's located
that you've hidden it in your heart and then if somebody asks you to show it to them you can't
yeah so there is that prescriptive part of it right but then the descriptive part particularly
in the culture in which we live is how do you take what i'm giving you and why does it matter
in bringing up those scriptures when they're arguing with one another and telling them how
god sees arguments among yourselves what does the bible say why are there arguments and quarrels
among you right because you're selfish right right you know what i mean bringing those things to bear
not just saying so i think you know having a balance of uh pour it in but then make them use it
apply it we were getting arguments my sister now my grandmother would be like stand side by side
and we'd be like really right now yes now i want you what's the disagreement about and she'd ask
what it was about and we'd have to re-have the argument in a loving way she's like you
know why because a soft answer turns away red that's right and if you say it and we'd be like
you know i mean really you just like you roll your eyes and then all of a sudden you get
older and you're like it clicked i really could say yeah say this differently and so
and she this this passage in psalm 127 which is so relevant now she used it all the time she was like
you are my arrows you know so this idea that you know as a parent you're in battle you
know you're a warrior trying to launch these kids somewhere and there's something about that because
there is a part where before they get a choice the warrior says where the arrow will go that's right
right so you're gonna get a choice later but not right now psalm 127 gives us this beautiful
metaphor that our children are like arrows in the hands of a warrior and when i think about that
they're not arrows in the hands of an amateur or a careless person that god gives us this metaphor
that we are warriors which means that even in our insecurities and all of our doubts somehow we are
qualified to launch these children that god said it didn't matter your past and your mistakes and
all the things you've done you think you you're horrible at i've given you these children i put
them in your hands and you're a capable warrior for that child the child that god has given you
and so for me it makes me feel like okay we got this not i got this but god me and you
we we got this and if you're married that hey together my husband and i with the lord we have
this and so there is a sense of responsibility because warriors are trying to achieve something
they're not just doing it to be doing it they're trying to win a war and so we're fighting for
our children in the spiritual in the spiritual realm and the physical we are trying to fight for
their souls and fight for their existence in this world as christ followers and when i think about
that metaphor i just think that we've been given these amazing gifts these arrows they're not ours
they are ours to steward not ours to own and we aim them and we send them in a direction with an
intentionality to win this war that that is around us every single day and that god has qualified us
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