How can I best incorporate God into my parenting?

God wants us to love our children as he loved us

The Rev. Peter Luckey, senior pastor, Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vt.:

Arguably, parenting is the world’s hardest job. From 9 to 5, Mom and Dad are masters of their work place. The office runs so smoothly that everyone says it’s a well-oiled machine. But then Dad comes home and tries to impose the same order on his teenage son’s bedroom. Dad fails, and for two days they pout.

How often have parents found that the very skills so prized in the work environment (technique, efficiency, control) fail miserably in the home?

It’s because of experiences like these that parents up to their eyeballs in the exasperating and amazing world of raising children find themselves beating a path to God’s door.

If God did not want us to learn the true essence of selfless love, forgiveness and generosity, he would not have given us children to be our teachers.

Consider this: What do parents give up for their children? Their money, their sleep, sometimes their sanity, and most of all, their love.

The years fly by. The bonds grow deep. Try as we might, we cannot help but expect them to fulfill the deepest desires of our hearts. But here is the rub: While our need is to be needed, their need is not to need us.

Being able to let them go will be the ultimate test of our love.

Even when the prodigal son walked off the farm forever, spent everything and would have been glad to eat the pods that the pigs were eating, the compassionate father with a weight in his heart that would not quit waited. And when that son returned, there Dad was, waiting, with nothing but arms filled with forgiveness and love.

Some will argue that remembering the story of the prodigal son is not the best way to incorporate God into parenting. The world is a hard, demanding place. Surely, God wants our progeny to be strong, self-reliant.

But God wants more than that. God wants us to see this holy calling not as an end to itself but as a means for us to grow closer to him. God wants us to love as he first loved us.

– Send e-mail to peterluckey@sunflower.com.

Teaching Christ’s compassion by example

The Rev. Paul Gray, senior pastor, Heartland Community Church, 619 Vt.:

Why would I even want to incorporate God into my parenting?

Why not just let the kids decide for themselves what philosophy to follow and determine for themselves whether they want to follow God?

My wife, Kitsy, and I decided to incorporate God in our parenting because we want to give our kids the best possible opportunity for success in life. Jesus teaches (John 13:17), “Now that you know these things, you will be happy if you do them.”

The true path to happiness, blessings, contentment and fulfillment comes only in following God’s principles.

The apostle Paul tells us (Galatians 6:7-10), “Don’t be misled. Remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what you sow! Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful desires will harvest the consequences of decay and death. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.”

So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.

Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone. We want our kids to have motivation and confidence, commitment to the truth, respect for authority and love for God and others.

Having a personal relationship with Christ and being obedient to him provides these things.

The way we incorporate God in our parenting is to teach our kids how God wants to relate to us – in a personal way, with high levels of acceptance and accountability.

We teach this through modeling, family devotions and prayer, church involvement and by using teachable moments as they arise.

– Send e-mail to hartland@sunflower.com.