Fingerprints

Often I forget what a great impact I have on my children!  I know...sounds crazy doesn't it? But really, there are moments that we stop and stand back and can see the direct fingerprint we have had on our children. The way they stand when they are talking or pace while on the phone.  The way they clean up a room and order their day.  Just this morning, as I got up to read I spotted a checklist my daughter made for herself to reminder her of the important things she needed to accomplish...her mother dead out!! Heehee.

I am pausing to consider God's fingerprint on their lives...

More important than how to make a checklist and follow it out...is having a heart for Christ.  Have I influenced my children to live for Christ simply by my actions?  Do I speak about following Him and let my actions refute my words?  Am I leaving a fingerprint of hypocrisy?  I pray that I am not, but I know in some areas I am.

Actions DO speak louder than words.  I hope my children SEE me doing God's will, following after Him with reckless abandon and tasting that He IS good.  I want my children to have the fingerprint of a Godly mother...because they will, after all, have my fingerprint no matter what I chase after.

Actually, my fingerprint will continue on...

"For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation." Luke 1:49-50

Obedience Is a Heart Issue

“The Lord does not give me rules, but he makes His standard very clear. If my
relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with
Him – namely, myself. If I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random
circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of
God.” Oswald Chambers

I read this as a caption on a page yesterday. It touched me profoundly. The book I was reading was about parenting and the different changes in the Seasons of childhood. When I read this quote, I instantly thought about my relationship to my Heavenly Father, but as I read the chapter on transitions,sympathy, discipleship and not moving into legalism as a parent...I began to apply this quote to my children.

Our children need to know that we love them, no matter what. That we can, and do, validate their feelings. (Of course, this does not mean allowing them to get away with wrong actions because we "understand" why they may have acted out!) The point is that even the most compliant child may not be obedient because they love us. It could be that the quiet, compliant and reserved child we perceive as obedient and "good" has a serious heart issue.

If we, as parents, do not hold the hearts of our children, who does? Have you asked yourself that lately? Our hearts desire as parents should be to have our children obey or carry out our wishes when we are not looking because they love, and honor us...not simply because we have a hard swing or a loud bark.

Take time to KNOW your children, relate to them and earn their trust and their hearts....It's worth the investment!