First of all, there are some glitches in the technology here and there. I know about them and apologize. I think I was talking too fast for my computer. ;)
Been thinking about parenting and what it really is and how to prioritize parenting stuff with the rest of the world. I realized that sometimes I might be wishing away this time in which I'm parenting children and I really don't want to do that. But it's easy to slip into.
So I looked up some verses on parenting and did some reflecting. Here's the links to the show.
Psalm 127:3 - Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Jonathan Fisk
Boars in the Vineyard Episode
Ephesians 6:4- Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Deut 6:6-9 - And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Titus 2:7 - Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity..
Watch Me
Galatians 5:22-23 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
But this at least all married people should know. They can do no better work and do nothing more valuable either for God, for Christendom, for all the world, for themselves, and for their children than to bring up their children well. In comparison with this one work, that married people should bring up their children properly, there is nothing at all in pilgrimages to Rome, Jerusalem, or Compostella [the home of a famous shrine in Spain], nothing at all in building churches, endowing masses, or whatever good works could be named. For bringing up their children properly is their shortest road to heaven. In fact, heaven itself could not be made nearer or achieved more easily than by doing this work. It is also their appointed work. Where parents are not conscientious about this, it is as if everything were the wrong way around, like fire that will not burn or water that is not wet. -From Martin Luther’s, “A Sermon on the Estate of Marriage”
Now observe that when that clever harlot, our natural reason… , takes a look at married life, she turns up her nose and says, “Alas, must I rock the baby, wash its diapers, make its bed, smell its stench, stay up nights with it, take care of it when it cries, heal its rashes and sores… ?
What then does Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. It says, O God, because I am certain that thou hast created me as a man and hast from my body begotten this child, I also know for a certainty that it meets with thy perfect pleasure. I confess to thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers, or to be entrusted with the care of the child and its mother. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? O how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised. Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labor, will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight…
God, with all his angels and creatures is smiling-–not because the father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith. - Martin Luther
By Wisdom a House Is Built
