Just...

Just recently I’ve noticed that when I ask Zach to do something his immediate response is ‘I’m just…playing with my cars’ or something similar. It has at times frustrated me because I want him to hear and obey straight away. It got me wondering where he learnt this phrase from. I mean he must have heard it from someone. Then one day it struck me. He was learning this response from me. I know that obedience is not a fashionable thing in the world at the moment. It all seems to be about doing what is right in your own eyes irrelevant to the impact on others. God however has a very different plan. He created us to live according to His order, an order based on willing and freely given obedience. In a family, God’s order has the husband as the head and the wife as the helper. Children are then called to obey their parents in the Lord. I know that there is safety, rest and peace in my home as we walk with God in His order; which brings me back to what Zach was learning. It was me. Having been frustrated at Zach I suddenly heard that same expression coming from my own mouth. My husband often asks for help but for some reason I just have to do something else first. I always seem to think that what I am doing in far more important, even if it’s just peeling potatoes.
I desire to see God’s life flourish in my children. For this to happen, I know that I need to guide them by my example in every situation, every day.

Ephesians 6:1-3 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER (which is the first commandment with a promise), SO THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU, AND THAT YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH.