When What You’re Doing Isn’t Working
I see a lot of similarities between parenting and sports. If you’ve played sports on any serious level, you know how much practice and strategy goes into preparing for a game. You have to have strategies that your coach gives you and plays that are at the ready just in case you need them. At every…
Headache Now or Heartache Later?
The idea of rebuke grates against our flesh. I know that Selena and I neither like receiving it nor giving it… especially as parents! Still, if we are to live wisely in how we disciple our children (and each other), we must learn to not only accept the idea of rebuke, we must *embrace it* and…
The Profound Difference Between Training and Raising Our Children
We’re new to the raised-garden scene. Selena’s been wanting one for some time, but this is the first summer we’ve had the bandwidth (no book deadlines, no babies on the way, and we’re not moving). So, earlier this summer I bought some lumber and built her an above-ground…
Tiny Mirrors and Stirred Hearts
This is a short post, but I wanted to encourage you with a profound reminder: our kids learn to love and cherish what we love and cherish. They learn to value what we value. In other words, much of the awe that rules our children’s hearts depends on the awe that rules our own hearts. Tiny…
3 Ways the Gospel Transforms How We Parent
Author Jackie Bledsoe once said, “Your marriage is the gospel you are preaching to your kids.” As the gospel transforms your marriage it will inevitably transform the hearts of your children. How you love, serve, and reconcile to each other is a glimpse—a foreshadowing—of how Jesus…
Don’t Fix Yourself, Fix Your Eyes
Experiencing the truth and power of God has the uncanny effect of conforming us to His character. I’d even venture to say that the shortcomings we feel as parents and any area where we know we need to grow, can be traced to a place where we must experience God more fully and more often. For…
Foregoing the Flesh, Walking in the Spirit
One of my ongoing struggles as a mom is to connect emotionally with my daughters. It's one thing to keep your kids fed and safe (both great things!), but it's another to be a joyful and patient parent. It's much easier to parent with low-grade irritation and angst, especially when you're tired from…
The Power of Calm Correction
Confession: I have a problem with anger. I also have a problem with impatience. Also, I have a problem using the… I’ll say, “wrong” words. As Ryan often jokes, I have a salty side—one that I’m mostly not proud of. As it turns out, my children have only served to amplify these areas of my heart that…
Short vs. Long-View Parenting
Everything good takes time, including molding the character of the next generation. As parents, we must have a long-term view of our roles in our children’s’ lives while also trusting in the long-term fruit of instructing them in God’s way. Two views compared It can be helpful to contrast the two…