In Part 1 of this post I reflected on the fact that we so often measure our parenting by the standards of others. But that we SHOULDN'T - because God tells us not to! (Proverbs 29:25 "It is dangerous to be concerned with what others think of you, but if you trust the Lord, you are safe." ) You can read it the whole post here.
So how should we measure our parenting then? Hard question for sure!
Ultimately I think the most important measure we should use is... 'am I including GOD in all aspects of my parenting?' Which is really quite an easy question to answer if we are being honest.
The cool and absolutely most reassuring thing ever is, Christian parents have help in parenting. Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit is our helper. We see it in John 14v26. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. That includes help with parenting. When we stay tight with God and immerse ourselves in His ways, the Holy Spirit continues to help us as we look to Him. So let Him help you. Guide you. Lead you. From there, dare I say it, I think parenting becomes a bit simpler. Not easy. Never easy. But so much more clear cut because we aren't doing it alone.
I remember when it was finally time to choose the High School that our kids would attend. We had narrowed the options down to two. Both schools were terrific but we felt to go with the one with a less Christian culture - much to our amazement. To get to this decision we had prayed about it and remained open to hearing from God... and he delivered. He did a few things which gave us a real peace about our choice. We were criticized by some friends for this choice and could have doubted our parenting, but to this day we know it was the right choice because we included God in the decision. We followed his lead. Interestingly we later found out from our son that while he was sitting the entrance exam he felt like God said to him "You are in the right place". We laughed when he told us months later because it it would have helped us so much if he had told us on the day!
None of us will always be perfect parents 100% of the time, but by keeping God involved, listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit - we have a huge help in our parenting gig. I know I want as much help as I can get!
The world may or may not think I am doing a great job in my parenting - but if I can just keep trying to parent God's way, I think I have a fighting chance!
Disclaimer: I always ask my kids permission to share their personal stuff with you. This is an approved post!
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