Part of the Body

Caileigh and Collin have been studying the body in school, our physical body as well as the body of Christ, the church. Often, I get a little sidetracked especially in Bible, today was such a day but I felt the need to share. Yesterday I read another article on MSN about the decline of church attendance, especially in the late teens and early twenties age group. This morning as we were talking about the body of Christ all the pieces that had been floating around in my head clicked.

I want my children to know that they were created on purpose by a purposeful God for a purpose. God has a plan for their lives and He has great things in store for them if they stay in His will (not leave the church as young people). Psalm 139 says,

3

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

God made them for a purpose, to do His will and work for Him. We then went on to read, Romans 12:4-5,

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Just as the body (we used a model of the human body to show this part) has a specific job so does the members of the body of Christ.

Corinthians 12 says this about the body,

4Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!"

Using the body model we took pieces of the body out and played with this thought for a time (also teaching science - I love multi-tasking). What does the heart do? does the body need it to survive? What about the lungs, or the hands, or the stomach, or the eyes? Our bodies need all of its parts. God designed the parts to fit together and to work together. Without the different parts of our body we don't function properly, as God designed. So with the body of Christ, the church. The church does not function properly without all of its parts and God designed each of us with different gifts to fulfill the role of a part of His body. From the womb, He designed us to have certain gifts and personalities to fulfill the role He has for us. What a glorious thought! We were designed for a purpose and He has fitted us each differently for different purposes. I love that! I love that God designed my kids to fulfill a purpose that will bless His body.

As I was sharing this today, my kids faces lit up with the thought that God has a wonderful plan for their lives. (This was also a great chance to mention staying obedient to stay in the center of His purpose. I never want to lose an opportunity to mention staying obedient!) I want my kids to go through life knowing that there is a purpose for their lives and that just one person can affect the world for Him. I never want them to question that they were designed by God to be the way they are. I want to know that too! I want them to know that if they leave the body, it will suffer and they will suffer. Staying in the center of God's will is the best place for them to be, no matter what age they are or what stage in life.

Categories: parenting

Middle Ages Night

One of the things I love about home schooling and our curriculum (mfwbooks.com) is the family learning events. This was an all candle lit, meat pie eating, Nine Men Morris playing, ale drinking (okay ginger ale), night in the middle ages. Scott was Lord Hudson, Connor was Sir Conrad, Collin was Brother Collin, Caileigh was Princess Sarah and I was Mistress Hudson the kitchen help. We had a wonderful time pretending and learning together.

The next week, we had monastary night. We weren't allowed to speak and ate Pea Soup (not my favorite) and Black bread. Scott read the Bible through out the meal and we all meditated in the solitude on the meaning of the words. It was a special night but we all are grateful that we were not called to be Monks.

I hope and pray that these are memories of family times that the kids will bring with them into adulthood.

Categories: parenting

Family Purpose

Recently, we were challenged to make sure we have a working family purpose. I thought I would share what we've learned and how to make a family purpose. Oh, and goals for each of the kids too! The examples are our family purpose and objectives and the kids goals. My poor kids don't know how often I've used them as the example of good and bad behavior! I'll have to raise their allowance.

Family Purpose

I.Purpose
Write an overall purpose statement for your family, making sure it reflects the morals and values of your family. Start with “Our purpose as a family is....” Make your statement as precise and simple as possible.
Example : “Our purpose as a family is to bring glory to God through the love and choices we make as individuals and corporately as a family.”

II.Objective
State in a phrase or sentence an objective in fulfilling your purpose statement. Begin your statement with “to...” and complete your statement in such a way that you would see your purpose statement fulfilled.
Example : “To raise our children to be Godly young men and women filled with integrity and joy, who will be leaders for Christ in their homes, churches and country.”
III.Goals
Carefully consider individual goals for each family member. We make goals in three areas, spiritual, personal and academic (for our children) each year and have three goals per area..
Example : For our oldest son, here are the goals he is currently working on
Spiritual – self control over his emotions and tongue Gal 5:22-23
Personal – maintain responsibility over belongings (coats, piano bags, sports equipment) Eph 6:1-2
Academic – have multiplication and division tables memorized through 12


Carefully consider these goals and make sure they meet these criteria:
1.Are they biblical?
2.Do I have a verse or moral reason why to support these?
3.Do they fit out purpose as a family?
4.Do they bring glory to God or glory to us?
5. Are they achievable? We don't want to exasperate our children. (Col. 3:21)

Post these in a spot where you can see them regularly and pick a goal to work on weekly or monthly, include your children and them pick the goal they want to work on.

Categories: parenting