Monday, July 19, 2010



Abby is 21 months now, and is a bundle of joy. This morning my heart melted when we were having our family worship time, and she volunteered "I want be wise!...I want make Mommy Daddy happy!"

As much as my heart is so pleased that she wants to by wise, and to please her father and mother, I couldn't help thinking of how it would make God happy if we as adults were striving to "Be wise! Make Heavenly Father happy!"

Recently, Peter and I have struggled with how to steer our children towards sibling harmony. The 7 seater minivan is full, and we're just going to have to learn to get along in that amount of space for the time being. As a parent, I've felt like I'm just stumbling around in the dark trying to figure out how to get family harmony back.

Then I saw a blog that I've never seen before and it was talking about applying principles from Matthew 18:15-17 to peacemaking within a family. I showed it to Peter, and we both wondered why we had never thought of it ourselves. I don't feel qualified to go into much depth on it right now, because I'm still trying to figure out myself, but the next morning we read Matthew 18 for our family devotions, and talked about settling conflicts between siblings peaceably and biblically. We even did some role playing, which the kids found both funny and helpful.

Then this morning Abby declares that she wants to be wise, even if just to please us. Talk about out of the mouths of babes...They teach me so much.

2 comments:

Josh's Pearl said...

Debra,

I so identify with your quest for harmony. With two boys 15 months apart, the rivalry and competition are pretty fierce. Would you be willing to share the blog you were reading? If you would rather email me, our address is jc@snapclamp.com. I have been praying about this problem and would appreciate reading the wisdom of others.
Christina

Josh's Pearl said...

Debra,

I so identiy with your quest for harmony in the home. With two boys 15 months apart, the competition and rivalr gets pretty fierce. Would you be willing to share the blog you were reading on Matt. 18? If you would rather, our email address is jc@snapclamp.com. Thanks! I'd love to hear how it goes.
Christina