So I was at Bible Study last night (Beth Moore's Deuteronomy study...and if you have never done a Beth Moore study, put that on your to do list right now!), anyway, she was talking about the best parenting advice that any parent could have. When she mentioned she was going to give this advice out during the session, I was very eager to hear what she had to say. I respect and admire Beth as not only a Bible teacher, but also as a wife and mother. She is not perfect, and certainly never claims to be, but she loves her family fiercely. Anyway, her advice was this...."Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength" (you can find the whole verse in Deut. 6:5). Her teaching from that was that the loving drives the living. In other words, how you love is how you live. That's it.
I spend a whole lot of time reading parenting books and magazines and blogs and have since the minute we found out we were pregnant the first time. I like to read from many, many different authors who have varying viewpoints so that I can educate myself and find out what works best for our family. I have to say, it was a relief when Beth gave that advice. And do you know why? It was because it took a whole load off of my shoulders. All I have to do is love God and I am being the best Mom I can be. Of course there are still many things I can do, but I can put my whole check list aside (no more than 30 minutes of TV a day, vitamins taken, fruit and veggies eaten, craft done, reading time, devotional time, etc.) and just focus on that. And it works. I can still strive to do other things and of course need to, but as long as I am loving God with everything I have, I am doing exactly what He asks us to do as parents.
I would love to get up before my kids and get dressed, have my quiet time, and be ready for the day. But, that rarely happens. I almost always just do my quiet time with God at night. This evening I decided to read from my Jesus Calling book while the kids were playing in the living room and I was holding a sleeping baby. The little devotional in there is only about a paragraph long and has 2-4 recommended Bible verses to go with it. Ella heard me reading from the Bible (I usually read the verses out loud in case they are listening!) and ran over to me and said "You are reading about God!". Brady then grabbed one of his little Bibles and climbed on the couch and asked me to read him Bible stories. Beth mentioned yesterday how we have such an amazing opportunity to make the Bible exciting for our kids. David is a great storyteller and he makes Bible stories so fun for the kids. While I am not a great storyteller, I could spend hours a day reading to my kids. I love it. So, when he asked me to read to him from his Bible, I of course obliged and we read many stories. And that was it. All they had to do was see me loving God and they wanted to do the same.
I had many bad moments today as a Mom. My back is killing me so I was a bit crabby, we slept in and I was rushed getting Kinsley to the doctor, I was not very patient as we cleaned the playroom, and so on. So I am by no means saying that I have it all together. I just wanted to share the advice that Beth gave and how it worked for me today without me having anything to do with it. God is so, so good and He will take even our smallest attempts at loving Him throughout the day and make something great out of it.
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