Wednesday, November 3, 2010

But You Excel Them All - Part 2

A week ago I wrote about the lies that our culture is selling us as married folks after a gentleman at Wal-mart informed me that I needed to purchase my husband an HDTV to entertain him so that I did not have to be his entertainment, and we could stop procreating.  This type of lie and sin has slowly crept into our homes and is destroying them slowly.  Not only is it undermining the plan God has for marriage but it alters our perceptions of parenthood.

It is not a surprise that when we do things out of their designed order, as we have a tendency to do, that what God purposed as a blessing can be viewed as, well, a burden.  Our sin, then, alters our view of God's blessings.  God designed man and woman to be joined together in marriage and make babies.  Specifically, the Bible says in Genesis 1:27-28:
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them,
“Be fruitful and increase in number;
fill the earth and subdue it.
Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky
and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 

As our extended families spread apart and our immediate families break apart, parenting gets even more difficult therefore making our perception of parenthood even worse.  We are constantly told how expensive children are to raise, how much of our energy they take, how we will never get a good night's sleep again, how they will [fill in the blank].  It is rare to hear a parent recall the joys of parenthood, and I am just as guilty.

There are days when I cannot see God's purpose through my own trials.  There are days when I do not want to either because I want to believe the lies and take the easiest path.  Parenthood has quickly taught me, however, that short-cuts rarely pay off.  I find myself in tears, on my knees, often.

I want to encourage everyone to evaluate the reasons behind their current conceptions of parenthood.  What forms your beliefs?  Who influences them?  When was the last time you sat down with a grandmother and let her recall the joys of parenthood?

There are several parenting sermon series that I listen to over and over again to keep me on God's path.  Covenant Life Church's "The Parenting Years" is one of my favorites.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It is true. There are difficult times raising any family. As a present day granny, all I remember now are the fond and funny memories!