Advent 3: Weekend Wrap Up
The Third Sunday of Advent is now behind us. Here are things that stood out to me:
- The UPONDINWIDDIE advent wreath lighting on joy. the sincerity of George, the joy of ‘dreams come true’, the unexpected joy, the joy of life together.
- Practical ways to honor your Mom and Dad in every season of life: anticipate taking care of them, respect them, ask them for counsel, create relational space for them.
- Singing our God is mighty to save, mighty to save!!
- Nourishing our kids with instruction– packing their minds with the right creed, the right cult, and the right conduct.
- Cindy’s ‘live’ follow up to her awesome blog post. Looking forward to Easter.
- How our Shepherd nourishes us: On places of fresh growth: there He settles me. At waters of rest, He nourishes me. (Psalm 23:2)
- I love those sticks in vases near the altar– very wintry. Thanks to the team who is visually walking us through Advent.
- Reminder that most of your parenting is caught– your kids don’t miss how you treat your spouse, the time you spend with the Lord, how you love your neighbor.
Remember these ideas:
- Use the advent devotionals with your household and light the advent wreath each day at dinner time
- Consider getting alone at the beginning of the year and crafting some goals for each of your children– things you want them to experience or grow in during 2010.
- Ask one of the awesome 20-30 somethings in our church for coffee and listen to what their parents did right.
- Consider spending 10 more deliberate minutes a day talking and interacting with your kids.
I’m thankful for this community. Lets invite others into our hopes and fears about our roles as sons and daughters and our roles as parents. None of us has it all figured out. We’re all desperate for God to transform us, inspire us, and give us perseverance. I’m praying for you.
December 15, 2009 @ 1:44 pm
This is a great time to be together — growing and sharing and learning and learning some more and getting it wrong and trying again and being encouraged by one another. How thankful I am for all of you and how eager I am to know each and everyone of you well!
Wanted to share a great book by George Barna called Revolutionary Parenting. The Barna Group (i.) took data from national public-opinion surveys related to parenting, (ii.) explored existing literature on parenting practices; and (iii. — my favorite!) digested transcripts of personal interviews with 20-somethings “whose faith was robust” all in an effort to find out what their parents did in helping them grow into lovers of Christ. In addition to interviews with the young adults, they also interviewed the parents of those people. Fascinating look at things we can do to nurture those around us. I was especially thankful for the chance to glean from these interviews those things that my parents did for me that I may not (okay, probably did not) see at the time as their way of loving me, and, yet, I now understand the value. It’s a tangilble way for me to return to my folks to tell them specifically what they did well as parents.
As I look around our congregation, I see people who are loved and love back well. What a gift you are!