Parenting ScripturesSample

"When The Word Dwells in Your Heart, It Dwells in Your Home"

When my third child was born, something broke in me. I’d never been an “angry mom,” and I hadn’t been raised by one either. I’d always had a calm and kind personality in all of my interpersonal relationships. That was until I birthed that third boy and something ugly was birthed in me. Looking back, I see that I was overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the job, and the constancy of correction was ultimately my undoing. 

My time in the Word had dwindled, and as it did, my own words started to change. Tender responses gave way to short-tempered reactions. The sweet tone of my voice and the cadence of our days changed too. I was hurried and harried, and life grew more and more hectic. As we rushed off into each new day, I’d give my children a short Bible lesson at the breakfast table and put a memory verse up on the dry erase board in our kitchen nook. It wasn’t enough manna to sustain me, to get me through each long day and give me what I needed to parent them well. 

My kids are used to me saying “Let’s give God our first thoughts today,” as I wake them up with back tickles, the aroma of banana bread wafting through the hallway from the kitchen. It’s true, I’m teaching my kids to start there each day, but I need to as well. And I need more than a short chapter in their children’s devotional. 

I needed more then, and I need more now. I was dipping my toes into the Living Water, but not drinking from it deeply. If we truly understand the power of God’s Word in us, we would be lapping it up 24/7. Can you imagine how spending significant time in God’s Word might significantly change your words? 

It will. It does. Here’s why. 

Colossians 3:16 tells us what we need before we teach and admonish our kids each day. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom…” How can we expect to teach and admonish our young children if we’re not being taught ourselves? If we’re not indwelt by the Word of God, how will our words ever be seasoned by its teaching? If we want Him to transform the way we parent each day, and the words we speak, then we’ve got to be ingesting His Word on a regular basis. 

Before you let loose with words of your own each parenting day, turn to the Word. Start there. Read it, ingest it, and let it dwell in you richly, so that you might teach and admonish your kids with God’s wisdom.