Each post gets better and better. Each chapter gets better and better. I feel myself being challenged over and over again. This has been an exciting read for me.
Chapter 7: Inspiring a Sense of God's Powerful Purpose
In this chapter, we're challenged to direct our children's eyes beyond the everyday to see the extrordinary. And in the same way, we are challenged to see that as well. Caught up in the day to day, we can miss the majesty, mystery and the power of our Lord. Will be choose to see it? Will we choose to point our kids toward it?
Clarkson makes this statement on pg 81-82:
When I first became a mother I never would have guessed that the words, Come, look! would be so important to my child's faith training. But as we all grew together, I came to understand the importance of pointing out to them the abundant evidence of God's power and glory and presence that surrounds us. This act of directing their eyes and ears beyond the mundane to the wonders of God's work is one of the most important ways I can give my children the gift of inspiration.
*Read Matthew 6:25-30 and Psalm 19:1. Then think of a time and place where you really felt the power and magnificience of God as displayed in the work of his creation. In the coming few weeks, be on the alert for opportunities to look, observe, ponder--and point out God's wonders to your children. Set a goal of saying, "Come, look!" at least once a day.
It's funny that this show be the question today. I was just thinking about this myself. We love in a part of the country that has spectacular sunsets (possibly sunrises too, but I wouldn't know what the sky looks like at that time of day). I remember attending college when I first moved here and marveling at the colors that painted the sky in the evenings. Incredible! And then taking out the trash a few nights ago, I wondered, "When did I stop watching the sunsets?" When did life become so busy that I stopped watching what God had created?
Chapter 8: Inspiring a New Kind of Love
A New Kind of Love focuses on those people that we wouldn't normally love. The people put in our path that we would generally overlook. The people who wouldn't be our first choice to serve. But that's what it looks like to love the unlovable. To serve from Christ's heart. And to see through God's eyes.
Where are we demonstrating that for our children? Often as adults, we've grown cynical, jaded, ... isolated. Sometimes through bad experiences, sometimes through our own ignorance. Loving with a new kind of love requires us to rely on God both for his vision and his enabling.
*Read Matthew 9:36. Can you think of some fear or prejudies in your life or your particular culture that might keep you or your children from seeing people as Jesus did? (What kinds of people do you tend to shy away from or find it hard to care about?) What might help you overcome these attitudes?
Ouch! Can I decline to answer this one publicly? I'll be working through this one and let you know.
How did you feel about these two chapters? Was there anything particularly insightful that you took away?
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