I was browsing Facebook the other day and saw a status update that read, “Parenting is hard.” Eight weeks ago I would have flew right by it and not thought about it for second. On this side of parenting it seems so, profound.
Really, in those moments when:
Your infant won’t stop crying, no matter how well you explain to him/her the headache that you have.
Your five year old thinks its funny when they dump their food for the third time that day.
Your eight year old can’t understand why his best friend’s mom and dad are divorcing and his friend has to move away.
Your teenager gets her heart broke for the first time.
Parenting is HARD!
The question that I wonder is “How can the church make it a bit easier?” Maybe our job isn’t to make it easier but, I wonder if we can provide support so that parents can weather the hard parts and keep their sanity. Just how do we build a mutually healthy partnership with families without raising their commitment stress by adding one more thing to their schedules?
I don’t have a lot of answers right now. More questions than anything. Any thoughts from other KidMin leaders out there?
For the last year I’ve been pondering the Orange Strategy and am sold on it. A resource I’ve been following closely is called Orange Parents. In following that blog, one of the questions I have had is, “At what age does Orange parenting kick in?” I think it might start on day one.
On August 21st my wife and I got a call and found out there was a good potential that we would be parents via adoption. Three and a half hours later our son was born and in our arms. Now there’s not a whole lot you can do to intentionally disciple your child in their first month of life but parents can start building the community in which their child will be raised even before they are born.
While being mindful of Mason’s health, we still try to get him out and around the people who we hope will be part of his “elevated community” in the years to come. I have this theory, if Mason spends quality time with our network of friends now and throughout the different stages of his life, those same people, whose lives already reflect God so well, will be more inclined to “be there” for Mason when Mom and Dad’s wisdom isn’t quite enough.
At Faith eFree where I serve as the Children’s Pastor, the children’s ministry has been going Orange for about the last year. Until August 21st my experience was solely on the yellow (church side) of the Orange equation. Then along came Mason Lee. I feel so blessed to experience the red side now. As I relaunch this blog it is going to become much more focused. I’ll be writing about parenting and children’s ministry with a few personal reflections dabbled in.
I’ve been wanting to retool this blog for a while and our staff’s new collaborative effort along with some generosity from Coach Shef has provided the motivation needed to do it. First post coming later today is Orange Parenting: the First Month.
My wife and son are in Kansas City tonight. I’ve somewhat enjoyed the solitude of being home alone, windows open, cool air drifting in, coffee brewing, the minimal sounds of nature outside my window being the only thing I hear. And yet, I realize it’s too quite. There is a quietness in my soul. Not the kind that comes of contentment. More so, the kind that comes from absence.
I’ve enjoyed a fair bit of blog reading this evening (Might I recommend, If We Dare…, The Happy Neils, and 2009 Danbury Court). The thing that I love about all three of these is their unbridled passion for God and their callings. The details don’t seem to complicate their lives. They live very humbly for that which they feel called to and delight greatly in the pursuit of those callings.
God may you be the one that fills my current silence. Will you lead me quickly to you and that which you would like me to give my life for.
