This past Sunday, as the deep continued our discussion on planting roots in God, I had the opportunity to look at the family life and how mentoring an elephant can help guide us. By that I shared a story I had read from one of my favorite books, on how an adult male elephant will mentor a young male elephant into how to utilize his elephant uniqueness. The strength, aggression and size of an elephant allow for protection and provision, but without proper direction an elephant can become violent and destructive. So that gives a glimpse into the family life, and how important it is that we give our families what they NEED more so than what they WANT. In Deuteronomy chapter six, God continues his decrees and commands on how to live with Him and we find that God wants us to pass these ways on to our families. "Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." In other words, ALL THE TIME. For this to take place we need to be with our families, to give them the gift of us, our time. Many things offer to raise our families in today's culture, but God has offered us the opportunity to be led by Him. Our faith family needs us to be us, to give the gift of who God has designed us to be. Our spouses need us to be married to them, to give them our best and to forever date them with an expectancy for greatness. Our kids need us to parent them, giving them our time and attention, so as to encourage, discipline, instruct and love them to their Father God. They need us to be holistic parents, not just the "friend parent" or "cool parent," but the whole parent which requires our time.
To listen to the full audio, go to www.outofthedeep.com and click on the podcast. We are having an incredible time in Seyferth Park, and we will continue our time together this Sunday at 10am, so feel free to come hang with us and stay for a great grill out afterwards.
Rooted
Wallace D.
1 comment:
that was a great sermon two sundays ago. i really got a lot out of it. more people should realize that it's not about getting what you want out of life, but thinking about and doing for others. the world is becoming more and more self-centered everyday. it's great to come to a place where we are trying to get away from that and put others first. thank you!
Post a Comment