“Jesus told us to welcome children. I’ve read accounts of children scrambling into his sacred lap, and I’ve prayed, Lord help me to be a child welcomer like You. I don’t want to grumble about those You say the kingdom of heaven belongs to. As I travel further down this parenting road, I’ve realized Jesus’ genius in this interchange is not merely to encourage me to welcome children or to humble myself as one. It is to dare to think children have more to teach me about the kingdom of God than I ever gave them credit for. Dan Allender agrees: “Our children raise us to the degree that we are willing to receive them as the gifts God gave to mature us to be like Him.”
How does this happen? How do we allow children to become the window through which we see and experience God?
By valuing their intrinsic worth.”
Mary, as a family who educates at home, we prayerfully consider how to raise children who can walk like Jesus in the world, with His heart of compassion. We desire, deeply, to go into all the world–to not simply be homeschoolers, but world schoolers. You talk about the twin values of engagement and purity. What does that mean?
Many parents subconsciously believe that true parenting means protection at any cost. Jesus calls us all to be engaged in the culture we live in, yet not to be stained by it. That’s the beauty of engagement and purity. Abraham understood this. After God told him to leave everything and venture to a new place, he obeyed: “From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD” (Genesis 12:8). Oswald Chambers elaborates: “Bethel is the symbol of communion with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. Abraham pitched his tent between the two.” As parents journeying alongside our children through a postmodern world, this concept of pitching our tent between communion with God and engagement in the world should encourage us.
What does postmodern mean? And why should it matter to parents?
Postmodernism is the waiting room between what used to be a modern worldview and what will be. According to several postmodern scholars, we’re in a shift right now, leaving modern ideas behind, but what we are shifting to is not yet fully defined. Postmoderns believe that rationalism and/or more education doesn’t necessarily create a better society. They typically don’t embrace the notion of absolute truth, though they reach for the transcendent.
Our children will meet this shifting worldview no matter what our opinion of it is.
How can a parent help their children prepare for the world outside their door?
Become a conversational parent.
Talk to your kids. Listen.
Share your story.
Dare to believe that God has much to teach you through your kids.
Be humble enough to learn from them.
Create a haven for your kids, an oasis in your home that protects, supports, and gives kids space to be themselves.
Take seriously the mandate that you are responsible for the soul-nurturing of your children.
Teach your children to joyfully engage their world, while holding tightly to Jesus’ hand.
Teaching this comes primarily from modeling it in your own life.
Do you engage your neighbors? Are you more interested in God’s kingdom than your own? Admit your failures openly with your children, showing how much you need Jesus to live your daily life.
If you’d like to read an excerpt from the book, click here.
Meet Mary and read her crazy blog here.
Be sure to check out the other blogs participating on the Authentic Parenting Tour this week. For a complete listing of the blogs participating in the six week tour, visit here.
The book we’ve been discussing, Authentic Parenting in a Post-Modern Culture, by Mary DeMuth is available now. You can purchase your autographed copy directly from Mary at the link above.
