Purposed, Prayerful Parenting

The Holy Spirit certainly highlights various parts of the Word to us at various times in our lives, revealing new truths and teaching us new lessons. I'm contantly amazed by this. It's also so wonderful to see the Lord bring scriptures to life in a new way now that I'm a Mom. Hmmm...I've either already written that in a blog before, or I've been thinking it for quite some time...
A page in Nathaniel's "Story of Jesus" book tells about the little boy who gave his lunch to Jesus (John 6). Jesus took it, blessed it, multiplied it and miraculously fed 5,000 men, plus the women and children. I've been thinking about that mother who packed that lunch...she prepared her little boy to be a part of what Jesus was doing that day. She allowed him the opportunity to be where Jesus was, to listen to Jesus' teaching and to watch Jesus minister. She didn't hold him back. She didn't say, "No, son, that would interrupt my plans for today...." or "No, son, we are going to have a family day today..." She allowed him (perhaps she accompanied him, or perhaps she sent him) to be in the presence of Jesus. Brian and I are so blessed to have had parents who did the same. The took us to the house of God. The love the Lord, and taught us, through example, to do the same. They allowed us to pursue God's plans for our lives - even when the concept of "Master's Commission" was so very new and somewhat scary (thanks, Mom!) and even when it meant a move halfway across the country to be with the person God had ordained (thanks, Mom & Dad). May we always allow, provide, encourage the same opportunities for Nathaniel (and, of course, any siblings he may have. No, I'm not making an announcement. :)) We want Nathaniel to love the house of God, the people of God, the work of God, the heart of God and, of course, to obey the will of God. And...that isn't the only obedience that is vital...
I was reading in Romans 1 the last few days and was struck by something new (Thank You, Lord). In the second part of chapter 1, Paul writes, "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who supress the truth by their wickedness..."(verse 18). In the rest of the chapter, Paul explains the various "wickedness" he is talking about. Obviously, this is a list of things we would never want in our lives, the lives of anyone we know or care about and, certainly, not in the lives of our children. As he describes it, these are the behaviors of those who "....although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." (verse 21). What struck me was 4 words in the middle of the list of offenses Paul mentions. "they disobey their parents;" (verse 30). Disobeying parents made the list of vile, sinful, destructive behavior. Teaching our children to obey us isn't just a matter of making our homes peaceful or our trips to Walmart as uneventful as possible. :) Teaching our children to obey us is directly related to their willingness to obey God and to live in His blessing and protection. From what I read here in verse 21, it can start with glorifying God, giving thanks to Him, and protecting our minds & hearts by festing on the Word of God - and doing everything within our ability to see that our children do the same. Help me, Lord.