September 22, 2021 – Raising the Next Generation of Moms and Dads

Mercy Every Minute

Deborah Wuehler, TOS Senior Editor

It’s All About the Next Generation

I was just looking at my flower garden today and gathering the seeds from them for next year. It just amazes me how God put those tiny little seeds right into the head of those flowers, so that when the flower dies, the seeds are ready to be harvested for a whole new growing season. So it is with our children. God has placed within the family unit all that is needed to pass on to the next generation every value, every instruction, every hope for the future, and even the how-to “seed packets” to continue the legacy through our children to their children.

This generational view is beautifully written in Psalm 78 where it reveals the parental mandate to teach their own children the ways of God, that they might in turn teach their own children, and that all might set their hope in God.

Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: *THAT THE GENERATION TO COME MIGHT KNOW THEM, EVEN THE CHILDREN WHICH SHOULD BE BORN; WHO SHOULD ARISE AND DECLARE THEM TO THEIR CHILDREN: *THAT THEY MIGHT SET THEIR HOPE IN GOD, AND NOT FORGET THE WORKS OF GOD, BUT KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

(*emphasis mine)

These children are not ours to do with as we please; the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. We must determine to raise our children for His glory. Only God knows what they will become to shake the enemy’s kingdom as they represent their King. And only God knows what our grandchildren will do! We are training our children so they will train our grandchildren. We need to have a longer and larger view.

“Gather the people to Me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so” Deuteronomy 4:10.

God blesses parents who are willing to lay down their own desires and who give their all to teaching the next generations. Be strong and courageous as you remember why you are keeping His children Home. Where They Belong.

~Deborah

Check out these articles to give you some inspiration on your parenting journey:

Parenting with Pleasure by Mark Hamby
Parenting Future Moms and Dads by Dana Williams
When Parenting is Hard: Pursuing God by Heidi St. John

Bestselling, easy to read books on how to give your kids a fun Charlotte Mason education. www.catherinelevison.com

Todd Wilson

Familyman Ministries

Elevating Moms and Dads

Hey Mom,

This may be the most important topic we’ve discussed in a long time. It’s more important than math, science, or any other school subject. We’re talking about moms and dads parenting in a traditional family: one of the greatest institutions ever created and one that is under tremendous attack.

The truth is the world hates the distinction between men and women, boys and girls, and moms and dads. In this world of gender-whatever, those distinctions cause a very real problem for “their side,” and in their eyes, it is the first thing that must go.

You can see it clearly in society’s message to women. “Be great; be powerful; be fearless; be strong; be . . . men. And don’t be bound up in your home, wasting away raising/teaching children, and stuck being a mom and wife. You can be more!”

I’m sorry, but that message is a bunch of bunk! In the same way men were created to lead and protect, women were created to nurture and be caregivers. In fact, a 2018 survey on the website statista.com states 85 percent of U.S. women had kids by the age of 44.

It’s time we fight for motherhood and fatherhood and their distinctions. We need moms who model the joy of being “just a mom” and dads who elevate the role of fatherhood to the highest calling of a man.

Homeschooling allows us to teach this “radical” line of thinking and to model this seemingly archaic way of living. We need to teach our girls (from Titus 2:4-5) “to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands . . .” And moms, we teach this by modeling—by loving our own husbands and children.

Dads, you need to teach your sons to love their future wives and to lead their future families by loving and leading yours!

It is not an exaggeration to say, “The fate of the world is at stake”. . . because it is.

It’s time for you to speak up, stand up, and elevate moms and dads.

I need to calm down.

Todd

Diane Heeney

Pillar of Hope
Diane Heeney – Parenting Reboot

I’ve been reading about parenting styles: authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, even absentee. I’m sure I’ve been all of these at some point in my parenting years—even the absentee style.

Absentee homeschooling parents? How is that even a thing?

Think of how many screens exist in your home now. I count at least ten here for our family of three! I believe now more than ever parenting must be intentional—not relegated to the time we have left when we are not receiving notifications from one device or another.

Like it or not, electronics are necessary these days. How do we balance things? We make sure they are serving us—not the other way around. Some practical ideas . . .

• Make it a prayer priority.
• Master your phones. Don’t let them master you.
• Mute social media notifications.
• Maximize together time. As I tell our kids, “Be with who you’re with.”
• Measure out recreational screen time. We all know how easy it is for an hour to vaporize, getting sucked into the electronic vortex.
• Model the change you want to see, when you sit in your house or walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise (Deuteronomy 6:7).