Do We Talk Too Much??

Okay, I have never been one that has been accused of talking too much. Usually my wife says I don't talk enough. I am pretty good at answering a question with a direct answer, but am working hard on expounding for my wife to get to the details. For instance, if I am asked "How was work today?" I am fine with the answer - "good." I am learning that the real heart of the question is, "Will you tell me about what happened to you at work today since I have been by myself all day and need adult conversation?"

However, when it comes to disciplining, I have found that I do way more talking than listening. I could relate to the illustration in this week's lesson of the son saying, "Dad, we really didn't have a good talk, because I didn't say anything." Sometimes we feel that we have accomplished something and all we have done is vent to our kids. As parents, many times we are guilty of the extremes when it comes to discipline. Either we react out of anger and discipline right away without communicating at all or we lecture about the issue and accomplish nothing except making ourselves feel better.

I look at parents of teenagers who talk freely and openly with their kids and there is a mutual love and respect. They do not have that relationship because of a lack of discipline but because discipline was always combined with two-way communication. That means asking the right questions and letting them tell me what is in their heart. How else as a parent will I know how to guide the heart?

So, do you talk too much? For all of you parents of children under 3, practice now with the multiple choice questions. Once they have that full vocabulary and can talk back and talk back and talk back, you will wish you had not been so reactive but proactive.

Football, Parenting & Life

Okay, I know what some may be thinking, "Football!! I hear enough about this from my husband and I don't care." Well, hear me out anyway. Last night was Monday night football, San Francisco 49ers vs. Arizona Cardinals. As a fan of neither, I was watching the game because, well, because it is football and that is what we men do (Arr, Arr, Arr). Anyway, I digress, the game was a back and forth game and came down to the last play. Arizona has the lead by 5 points and the 49ers have the ball on the 2 yard line. The whole game comes down to this play. If they stop them from scoring, Arizona wins the game. The play was called and the 49ers ran the football up the middle to try to score. The Cardinals' defense surged ahead to stop the ball just short of the goal line to win the game.
As I read the final outcome this morning (since I went to bed before it finished), I was reminded of some things I heard Sunday during our group discussion. This parenting thing is tough and as hard as we try sometimes it feels as if we are failing. Sure, we have little successes that give us encouragement, but a lot of times, all we see and hear are the issues. (Insert name) has been ... And sometimes it gets to the point where you feel like a failure.
Let me encourage you to stand on the line and defend the end zone for your kids. I know it seems at times as if you have been playing the game forever and you are tired and weak. Keep defending the line. Keep directing the hearts of your kids to the Lord. So much more than the outcome of a game depends on it. This may be the time when you begin to see real change, not in just behavior, but in the heart.
"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another." - Walter Elliott

To Link or Not To Link???

Many of you may see that I have removed all of the blog links from this blog that are not a part of Union Grove Baptist Church & School. I am doing this for a couple of reasons.
First of all, this blog is designed for UGBC Homebuilders to communicate with each other and an avenue for me to communicate with you. It represents our ABF and church.
Secondly, I am not able to, nor do I want to police the other blogs to determine if the content appropriately represents UGBC. This is not meant to be a chastisement toward anyone's blog. I would, however, encourage you all to think about what you are writing and remember Who we represent. Many times we say things in print that we would never speak out loud.
I would also encourage you to pray before you publish your posts. You never know who might be reading them and your words should never hurt the name of Christ. We are not to be of the world, but we are in the world and are called to be salt and light.
Thanks for your understanding and happy blogging.

Thought For The Week - Voting Values

"It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are." -- Roy Disney

Well today is election day and I hope all of you have exercised your God given privilege to vote. This has been the most passionate election that I can remember. There seems to be no neutral parties. It is not that the candidates have such charisma and personality, but there followers are entrenched and passionate. This has even been a topic in the 1st Grade classroom and Mackenzie has come with questions. What a great opportunity to discuss values and why we choose one person over another. Because of this, Shay and I decided to take her with us and vote together as a family this morning. Mackenzie was able to walk through the process and help her Daddy vote for the first time. While she may only remember getting to touch the screen, I hope she always remembers the values that caused her to push the buttons that she pushed. May it never be about Republican or Democrat but about values. I think that the quote above holds a lot of truth. When you have a solid value system, it makes tough decisions easier. We can cut through the gray that seems to surround so many decisions. This challenges you and I as to what is our value system and is it Biblically based. If you are not sure think about this, how did you decide who to vote for? Was it the economy, health care, taxes, or was it something else?