Thursday, August 19, 2010

What's Really Important?

What is the most important decision you will make as a parent?

In my opinion, it is choosing to teach our children about Jesus and choosing to be a Christ-like example for them to see.
Is this easy? Of course not! But, is it the most important choice we can make? Absolutely!!

Peter and I have chosen to raise our children in a Christian environment and teach them about Jesus. At their young ages, it is hard for our boys to fully understand who Jesus is and why He is important, but I believe if we set a foundation now, as they get older and grow in their faith and knowledge they'll be able to better understand why we love Jesus like we do and how important His sacrifice for us was and is.

Some of the ways the we have made Jesus known to our children are by praying with them and for them, reading bible stories to them, bringing them to Sunday school and VBS, talking to them about Jesus at Christmas and Easter (to teach them the real reason for these important holidays), dedicating them to the Lord at our church (Marshall has not been dedicated yet, but we will probably be doing that within the next few months), and trying our best to be good examples for them to see.

I feel like no matter how much I pray for my children, it just never seems like enough. I want the best for each of them, and I just have to keep reminding myself that God is in control and that He made all 3 of my children and loves them so much more than I could ever even imagine! What an awesome feeling!!

Here's what has been driving me nuts, though. So many Christian moms seem to be placing so much emphasis on other aspects of child raising. It seems like everywhere I look (facebook, mommy groups, blogs, etc) I see moms putting forth so much effort to push their ideas of "good parenting" onto others. Whether it be ideas about sleep training, pacifiers, cloth diapers, homemade baby food, breastfeeding, vaccine delaying, what car seat is best, what stroller is best, baby wearing, or organic eating--who really cares? I'm not saying that any of these things are wrong, but why is it so important to tell the world about your personal choices?
Does it really matter how you choose to feed your baby, what kind or brand of diapers you choose, or which piece of baby gear you think is the most important? All moms choose to parent in different ways and all babies are different. These kinds of decisions will not affect our children for eternity, but the decision to follow Jesus will.

I'm not saying that moms shouldn't have a right to defend how they parent or to share ideas of what worked best for their children, I would just love to see Christian moms talking more about "what's really important."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Amend! And speaking as a child who grew up in a home where Jesus was taught more than any of that other stuff, your kids will thank you for it someday.

What could possibly be more important than making sure we are all a big, happy family in heaven as well as on earth?