Working on those roots...an example...

So here is an example from yesterday:

Wesleygrant hits his sister....I go in to teach the gospel! (Lord help me!...i think this was the 10th time they had been fighting...)

"Wesleygrant, who made you?"
"God"
"why did God make you"...... he doesn't answer, he is angry at me for asking him such a thing...sinner!
"God made you to glorify Him, wg." "He made your hands to love and serve people, not hit people"
"But sally stole my toy!"
"Wg, i know and she was wrong for stealing...but you loved that toy more than you loved sally and so you hit her."
"sally don't steal my toys!!"
"wg, let's try again....you tell sally that we don't steal and come get me if she doesn't listen to you.".... "you run to me and love sally more than your toys".
"but I am so angry!"
"yes, and your heart is prideful." "You can humble your heart and make it right with sally, or mommy will humble your heart for you with a discipline." (i.e. spanking)
"okay...sally, I'm sorry..."
"Wg, that isn't making it right...what do you say?"
"Sally, I was wrong for hitting you...I'm sorry"

things were made right and sally had to do the same apology...but you get the just of the incident...at a later time with wg and i alone, i tell him the real gospel of Jesus...and i do this all day long everywhere we go and sit and lay down. =) now, you can't have a conversation like that with a one year old and probably not a 2 or 3 yr old....we've added to this conversation over the last 2 years...at first it was just you are not loving...tell her you were wrong...and slowly we've added...as WG understands and has reached 4 1/2 yrs and I'm sure it will change over time as they get older.

Let me interpret the gospel here for you:
God has made us to glorify Him, but we can't and don't b/c we are sinners. We can never please God or know or be known by God in our state. We are as pridful as Satan and every sin is rooted in pride. Jesus brought humility and love and grace and boar our sins instead and paid a penalty of death that we owed God for our sin. Now, Jesus is our hope...salvation to those who believe and a stumbling block to those who don't. Jesus shows us what love is and God's word tells us everything we need to know to be a follower of Jesus. We walk humbly or he humbles us. In christ, we can run to God everytime and be loved, helped and corrected through any sin. and in the end, our whole being...is made to glorify God and will glorify God because of Jesus. All our joy is found in Christ alone. There are no other gods. We don't need anythnig but Him. We are to worship Him alone...and not turn our affections on something other than Him. This is a Christ follower.

This must be the story that feeds the roots of our kids lives everyday...don't worry about the fruit....pay much attention on the roots....

Our kids are sinners....Jesus is the only hope....Train them in the wisdom of the gospel...love...humility, not pride....confession of sin andlove Jesus more than anything on earth...and use everything they have and are to glorify him...that is their destiny...they are made to do this...we just help them see that little by little, minute by minute...more later...

"The Roots of the Fruit..."

"Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine, In the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants all around your table."
Psalm 128:3

"I live in Syria and have inherited a healthy looking olive tree in my garden. I've been here almost a year and haven't seen any sign of fruit. I've heard you have to know what you are doing to get olive trees to fruit. Is that so and if so, what's the secret?" (taken from a website regarding growing olive plants...)

I found myself relating to the woman who wrote this question...not regarding real plants, but my children...=) "i have healthy children in my home, i've been changing diapers for almost a year and haven't seen any sign of fruit. I've heard you have to be a perfect parent...i'm not so sure about this mother role...what is the secret?" =)

As the gospel continues to change stew and I's lives, I have found that it is my central place I go for any advice or help with training my children. "What does the gospel say?" is the question i ask in all situations with my children. And it, along with the explanation from a friend, is where I came to really focus on roots rather than the fruits my children were bearing or lacking.

Did you know that an olive tree can't even bear fruit until about 4 yrs of age? and then different varieties can't bear fruit until 16yrs of age! Well, when i found that children were referred to in the bible like "olive plants"...new language and thoughts behind what we "do" in our home to teach our children unfolded.

How often have you daydreamed about your children obeying you...sacrificially serving you...never complaining or arguing...being adults and serving Jesus with their lives? I know you have...and I have too. I mean, when you've instructed them and spanked them and done everything your 'child-rearing' book told you to do? Don't you begin to think about the fruit? look for it? poke at the darn child to see if there is anything producing?? of course we do!

But as i "rediscovered" the gospel in my life, i began to realize, it is more about the roots.... fruit sure doesn't just come up from nowhere and quickly...we've discovered that in our own garden...it all takes time and with attention on the roots.

We had an aloe plant in our garden and it looked so horrible after we planted it...i was ready to pull it up and throw it away...but with Jonathan, our expert gardener, we discovered that the roots of the plant were sensitive...it needed to have ground to drain water properly...so we did that...still looked awful! then we discovered that sometimes plants look bad on the outside, b/c they are putting more energy into planting their roots rather than producing on the surface...wow! that was genius to me! that was my kids!! man do they look unruly on the outside sometimes, but i was determined that I was going to help plant their roots in the truth of God and no longer expect fruit before bearing years....whatever that may be.

focus on roots....that is what we are doing....

Tomorrow I'll give you an example in our home...for now...i think this is long enough...=)