passing the baton

I have really been thinking lately about my role as a mom and what this entails. One of the biggest parts of my job as a mom for me is to be a protector of my family. While I do try to protect them as much as possible physically, I feel that protecting their hearts, minds and spirits is my most important job. Aubrey often gets aggravated at me because I won't let him watch certain shows, or wear certain clothing, but what we bring into our own homes is something that we can control. I'm not the best at it, but it is really on my heart to be on guard against things that do not promote the values and godliness I pray we have as a family. I also feel that protecting our family time is a major issue, and one that we as a society do not do a good job with. We are all so busy that our family life can really suffer.

I have been reading a book called Engraved by Grace, Creating a Legacy of Faith for Your Children, by Esther Burroughs. I had the privilege of meeting and hearing Esther speak at a WMU conference this past spring. I went to the conference on Saturday morning because I was asked to sing the special music, but left so encouraged and excited because of her message. I am loving her book because it is about how we can pass the baton of faith down to our children, and their children, and so on. It is filled with Scripture and stories, but also practical ways we can use to teach our children about Jesus and our faith in Him. This morning I was reading the book and it had this Psalm from The Message translation of the Bible. It was so neat, I wanted to share it.

Psalm 78:1-8

"Listen, dear friends, to God's truth,

bend your ears to what I tell you.

I'm chewing on the morsel of a proverb;

I'll let you in on the sweet old truths,

Stories we heard from our fathers,

counsel we learned at our mothers' knee.

We're not keeping this to ourselves,

we're passing it along (the baton) to the next generation-

God's fame and fortune,

the marvelous things he has done.

He planted a witness in Jacob,

set his Word firmly in Israel,

Then commanded our parents

to teach it to their children

So the next generation would know,

and all generations to come-

Know the truth and tell the stories

so their children can trust in God,

Never forget the works of God

but keep his commands to the letter.

Heaven forbid they should be like their parents,

bullheaded and bad,

A fickle and faithless bunch

who never stayed true to God."

Whoa, huh? Esther reminds us in the book that we need to be teaching our faith stories to our children and teaching them to be looking for what God is doing in our families daily. It's a bit overwhelming, but I'm praying that God will help me do that with my children. When this is what they look like on a day to day basis, how can I let it slip by without teaching them?

This is a peek into the day to day of what our summer is like. Miss Mallory walking around with a purse (just like her Aunt Leah used to do) and Aubrey with some sort of tool and mud. For the record, as soon as I finished taking the pictures I made him put the hoe away. (I know some of you are aghast right now that he's holding that thing)