Last week I ordered a book from
Vision Forum. It was a new release that I was drawn too because of a need I have in learning how to better manage my day to day life. So I get this very large book in the mail and find a few minutes in the afternoon while the kids were all playing, to peek through the pages. The very first thing I read is a quote. It says....
"Home is Where Each Lives for the Other and All Live for Christ"
wow........I am already feeling like this was a great buy!
What a great start. I am putting this up in my home.
I proceed to read more and find out that this book was started to be more of a handbook on life to bless her children with. The author spent years gleaming wisdom from other mothers and grandmothers on life. Yes, it has a ton of advise for moms, but is also full of wisdom on being a Christian woman and wife. As I am reading this, I am so looking forward to all she has to share. I'm on day 4 of reading and have yet to get to read the whole thing. One problem is lack of time. The only real uninterrupted time is late at night, when the kids are all sleeping, inbetween laundry, planning, and cleaning. So, it is late-night reading or sparatic reading during the day. My second problem is that some of what I read was so relevant and full of wisdom that I would read it a few times and mediate on it for a while. That is more of a blessing then a problem...isn't it?
There is a chapter on Self-Discipline that had a passage that spoke to me. I read it a few times and thought about it often
Slowly but surely, as we fix out eyes on Christ and put aside our selfishness, we will become more kingdom-oriented. Sometimes we will move forward quickly in one area of Christian life while, at the same time, being blind to sins in another area. That is why we must be so gracious with each other;God is working on us all in different ways. None of us have arrived yet. This said, when we keep our eyes on God's goal-godly womanhood-and regularly seek His wisdom, we will gain His character over time. We will also begin to see the people of the world as He does and respond with patience and mercy. Being Christ-like is the goal.
When we have God's Word in our minds and are sensitive to the Holy Spirit, we will gain control over our selfish fleshy desires. We must not give in to our emotions but surrender them to God daily through a life of prayer. God tells us to pray without ceasing for a reason. It is hard to give in to temptation and pray at the same time!
Gaining self-control over emotions is found through the renewing of the mind. When you hide God's Word in your heart, you will replace selfish thoughts with His thoughts.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
-Romans 12:2
The chapter on "Give Your Children a Work Ethic" was also a good one!
The principal cause of boredom is the hatred of work. People are trained from childhood to hate it. Parents often feel guilty about making children do anything but the merest gestures toward work. Perhaps the children are required to make their beds and, in a feeble and half-hearted fashion, tidy up their rooms once a month or so. But take full responsibility to clear the table, load the dishwasher, scrub the pots, wipe the counters? How many have the courage to ask this of a ten-year-old? It would be too much to ask of many ten-year-olds because parents have seriously asked nothing of them when they were two or three. Children quickly pick up the parents' negative attitudes toward work and think of it as something most sedulously to avoided - Elisabeth Elliot
Hard physical work builds character. Once you have done hard work, everything else comes much easier. And what is character? Character is having the ability to see beyond this second in time and to persevere beyond what feels good. It is learning the self-discipline to make your body do more then your feelings want to. It is training the mind to overcome flesh. It is one thing to read about the character in a book and aspire to do hard things. It is another thing to practice it. Practicing character traits happens with work.
So much more I love in the book, but I can't type it all!
My eldest son has seen me reading this book, has heard his parents discussing different topics from the book, and has seen the effect that it was having on his life. He's not as impressed by the book as I am. So un-impressed is he, that he took it upon himself to hide the book from me on Friday night. I had gotten the last child to sleep and was excited to dive into another chapter. After searching the whole house, I realized that he may be behind the missing book. So as any good mother would do.....I woke that little boy up and asked him where my book was. With a grin, he told me it was somewhere in the family room. He honestly did not remember where he hid it, but thankfully I was able to find the book within minutes(behind the tv).
I'm back reading and hoping to gleam more wisdom from a fellow mom :o)
I really think the name should say something like, "The Handbook for Life".
It really has a lot to offer a mom with any amount of kids.
Hard work builds character:o)
I love seeing my baby lay his head on his loving Father
