Guiding Young Hearts
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight,
Psalm 19:14
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
There is no question that parenting comes with a lot of responsibilities.
Many of those responsibilities change as children grow because their needs are different with each passing birthday. The baby that you brought home from the hospital, wrapped in a soft blanket and tiny booties required attention and energies that were geared for nurturing someone small and vulnerable. Your toddler will tell you that she doesn’t need your help, thank-you-very-much, as she develops more autonomy and a desire to do it herself. Your preschooler is nurtured differently than your middle-schooler. Next think you know, you’re in the passenger seat air-breaking, as you teach your ‘baby’ to drive. Shortly thereafter, in the blink of an eye, your baby is going off to the next stage of their life… into adulthood.
It goes fast.
Baby to young adult seems like a flash-in-time when you’re viewing it from the other end of parenting. Yet even when they become adults, your ‘kids’ are still your kids. Parenting responsibilities change over time from total hands-on feedings and diaper changes to letting them fly.
Guide and Guard
The one thing that remains steadfast through every stage of parenting is love. Unconditional, full-heart, prodigal son type love. How you feel about your kids, that immense, indescribable love is the way that God loves us – only he loves us even more!
If you still have young kids (or grandkids) in your midst, help guide and guard their hearts. Tell them how much you love them and the immense love that God has for them. Guide them with prayer, awareness of sins, teach them about confessing and repenting, lead them in the way they should go, and always encourage them. Repeat often. You’re responsibility is planting the seeds and nourishing the soil as only a parent can. God’s responsibility is to make things grow.
Use your parenting time wisely
Stay focused on your biggest responsibility while you can: parenting your beautiful children. The time really does fly by and, in the big picture, you’ll be parenting your child for a short time.
Make it count.
If you need any help with spiritually nurturing your kids, please let us know. We’re here for you! Here’s a download for you, ‘Guiding Young Hearts’.
In Christ,
Peggy Kelly
Family Ministry
cccbillerica.org