Yesterday, when Laurel was whining about something, it occurred to me that her God-given strength– her ability to articulate anything and everything– was going unused as long as she was whining and crying. I stopped my short, irritated lecture, and pulled her on my lap. “Did you know that God gave you a love for [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning
(Or simply, Spiritual Instruction Outside of the Box) An excellent missions blog I read on occasion has a link to a website that I found fascinating, not merely for its implications in missions, but also for its implications on teaching non-standard learners. Our American churches emphasize the written word heavily, and well they should. God’s [...]
Tags: learning disability
Filed under: Child Development, Communication and Meaning
Had a good actual discussion with one of my children about salvation. I mentioned that the Bible talks about a number of people who were reluctant to be saved or repent, and that we can see several reasons for not doing so. We chatted about a few. The pharisees were more concerned about what people [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning, Fear, Salvation
Metacognition is thinking about thinking. I wrote a bit about answering the question “How did they behave?” I’d like to follow up with a few more thoughts about the thinking behind and around the question itself. The occasion of the post was a genuinely profitable and enjoyable spiritual conversation at the playground with a child [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning
I want to be a gospel-centered parent. I mean, being gospel centered is good. Essential. Biblical. Colossians 1:18 says And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. If you grew up without the foundation of [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning
I mentioned last week that our discussions on Psalm 119 have given me an opportunity to talk about corporate worship. Specifically, we have discussed what it means to read the Bible together and pray together. Corporate Reading David and Bethel can read well enough to take turns reading verses, but when they’re not reading, it’s [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning, Family Devotions
If you tell a mother of an infant under one that it’s not biblical to be child-centered, she might look at you in disbelief and perhaps amusement instead of reverent awe. Not child centered? Her very waking hours are determined by her child’s wake/sleep cycle. Her biggest spiritual challenge in life might be at that [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning
Lately I’ve been thinking about how I teach my children to actually use the Scripture they’ve been memorizing. So I’ve been asking a lot, “How do you do that?” For example, Laurel was devastated when I told her she could not use some particular markers at a particular time. Since I was working on a [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning, Discipleship, Wisdom
I can see their eyes glaze over at the moment I’ve talked too long. Sometimes they hint that I’ve gone too long– when they ask an unrelated question. One child has learned the subtle secret of changing the subject by asking a spiritual question. Other times they’re more blunt, “When are you going to be [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning
On occasion, I’ll reread something I’ve written and been completely unable to decipher what I intended to say. That’s how I felt last night, so I actually deleted my post (it was that unintelligible to me) and will repost something like it on Friday. Hopefully it will make sense. Today is Wisdom Wednesday, and I [...]
Filed under: Communication and Meaning, Wisdom
