A Divine Calling

“…you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 3:15

We have many different roles in life, mine include: wife, friend, sister, daughter, member, customer, employee and parent. Some of these roles come easily - like daughter, didn’t need to do much for that one! Others take some time and effort - like employee and friend. The one role I choose and continue to develop is that of parent. Often parents are described as “caregivers” or “providers”, but really it is so much more than that.

What if we started to think of parenting as a divine calling? Our primary goals are to raise children that continue to grow in faith, encourage them to use their gifts to glorify God and to serve others with the same compassion that Christ teaches us in the Bible. We need our kids to understand how the world works - in the light of the way God instructs in the Bible. We can send them to their Sunday schools for an hour a week, maybe have them in a Christian school, but if what we do as parents is in conflict of what they are taught in church, it’s all for nothing. It’s a divine calling, that honestly, only falls on us.

“Religion (Faith) never thoroughly penetrates life, until it becomes domestic." Horace Bushnel

I love this quote, it’s like anything in life, unless it is repeated, practiced, shown, displayed, acted out, talked about over and over and over… it just won’t stick.

We need to act it out in front them – prayer during difficult moments of the day or times of praise, and not just for food and as a quick blessing before bed. Acts of love towards your spouse and others - kids see this and mimic it to each other. If we show them that patience and kindness is the norm, and not the exception to every day interactions - we are shaping their hearts for the future. Helping them learn values and attitudes that can help them cope in life when they get older and get into difficult situations with peers, etc.

It’s a difficult role we are blessed with, but as I start to think of it as divine calling, it almost doesn’t seem as daunting. God’s grace makes it possible for spiritual formation and He has provided us with the Bible, a church family, and the Holy Spirit to help us nurture our children’s faith.

How about you? Do you find it difficult to make "religion" more domestic? It's easy to slip into the Sunday only mode of being a Chrisitan. What do you do as a family or even individually to keep every day focused on Christ?

~Kelly