The sermon at church tonight on parenting was great. A few things that stuck out to me were:

1) Lead by example- If you are kind, humble, seeking God, respectful, say thank you, speak to them in sentences — that is what they will do
2) Stay Connected- Our kids are different from us. We may like to play soccer where they might like to lay in bed with you and read a book. Learn your kids personality and figure out ways to stay connected and carry on conversations with your kids.
3) Be the Expert- Don’t freak out when your kids ask you questions about anything. Respond with “Thank you for asking me…..”
4) Let them fail
5) Celebrate the efforts not just the achievements

At the end of his sermon “Lead Me” by Sanctus Real was sung. Here are the lyrics:

I look around and see my wonderful life
Almost perfect from the outside
In picture frames I see my beautiful wife
Always smiling
But on the inside, I can hear her saying

“Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can’t
Don’t leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, what about us?

Show me you’re willing to fight
That I’m still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone.”

I see their faces, look in their innocent eyes
They’re just children from the outside
I’m working hard, I tell myself they’ll be fine
They’re independent
But on the inside, I can hear them saying

“Lead me with strong hands
Stand up when I can’t
Don’t leave me hungry for love
Chasing dreams, what about us?

Show me you’re willing to fight
That I’m still the love of your life
I know we call this our home
But I still feel alone.”

So Father, give me the strength
To be everything I am called to be
Oh, Father, show me the way
To lead them
Won’t you lead me?

To lead them with strong hands
To stand up when they can’t
Don’t want to leave them hungry for love
Chasing dreams that I could give up

I’ll show them I’m willing to fight
And give them the best of my life
So we can call this our home
Lead me, ’cause I can’t do this alone

Father, lead me, ’cause I can’t do this alone

This song is written from a man’s perspective, but I still loved and felt convicted about a few things in this song.
1) I love that I do feel like David leads our family. I know it’s a huge weight on his shoulders, but I look to him to answer our toughest family decisions and he takes the time to become informed on whatever it is and we talk about it. As far as the kids, when he is away with work he takes care of business, but the minute he walks in the door it’s like an on switch and he is there ready to do puzzles, read books or feed Valor. And he stays on until they are tucked away in their beds. It’s funny, and if you are my friend you know I have complained about this; David gets really into playing with the kids, so when I say put the kids to bed at 7:30 it’s often 9 because he gets caught up in them. I have to remember they are only this little once.

2) Applying these lyrics to my life,  I feel convicted when the writer talks about the children – I look at Valentine like she is so independent. She plays and dances by herself while I sit there on my phone or facebook or whatever — instead of engaging with her. I know that I don’t want to be the remote control, and I know that she feels very loved, and taken care of, but I feel like sometimes I could do a better job of focusing ON HER and just her. (I say this in the context of Valentine because she is older, but this could also be applied to Valor when he is crawling around on the floor)

So this is my prayer: 

So Father, give me the strength
To be everything I am called to be
Oh, Father, show me the way
To lead them
Won’t you lead me?

To lead them with strong hands
To stand up when they can’t
Don’t want to leave them hungry for love
Chasing dreams that I could give up

I’ll show them I’m willing to fight
And give them the best of my life
So we can call this our home
Lead me, ’cause I can’t do this alone

Father, lead me, ’cause I can’t do this alone

I really feel sick to my stomach after watching this amazing video. I’m embarrassed to say I had a hard time sitting through the entire thing without picking up my cell phone to check stuff so I could ‘multi-task.’ I am in much need of a change.

“Being alone feels like a problem that needs to be solved.”
“If we don’t teach our children how to be alone. They are only going to know how to be lonely.”
“Develop a more self aware relationship with [technology], with each other, and with ourselves”
“Start thinking of solitude as a good thing. Make room for it. Find ways to demonstrate this as a value to your children. Create sacred spaces at home and reclaim them for conversation.”