Our church had a Family Conference this weekend that was just absolutely excellent. I love my church family. I really and truly do. I’m very thankful for all the hard work that went into making last night and this morning possible, and the speakers were just all so good. The sessions on discipline and family worship this morning were especially helpful to me. Wish my husband had not had to be out of town this weekend for work, but I took good notes and can’t wait for time to sit down together and discuss and pray together about what I’ve learned over the weekend and how we can implement it in our home so that we can be even more diligent about building a Christian home that has the fragrance of Christ and glorifies God.
The session on discipline was a breath of fresh air and conviction as I realize this is an area I have been needing some reminders in. It is the root of that issue I mentioned in an earlier post that I discovered with one of my children. I realized while rereading that post that I made the situation sound more dire than it actually is, but it is something that needs addressing. It is serious, but I realized that without context and detail, it sounded worse than it actually is, and I have now edited that post. It’s a matter of learning how to be organized and first time obedience and taking responsibility for things that need to be done. And what I realized is that we’ve been lax in training in these areas, and in consequence I think we’ve exasperated our boy. Anyway, very thankful for the practical, biblical sessions this weekend.
Last night the elementary age kids had a camp-in at the church led by our student pastor, and my middle boy had a great time. My older boy got to volunteer with the preschool childcare so that I could go to the conference sessions. That is not really ‘his thing,’ but I’m so glad of the way he did it cheerfully and without complaining anyway.
Anyway, that’s a really long lead up to get to the little story I was actually writing this blog post to share. As I was checking my son in for his camp-in, the college student who was volunteering with that area kept calling me, “Mrs. W_________.” Inside I always feel so funny being addressed that way, because inside I still feel like I’m right there with that college girl as a peer. But I’m not. I’m old enough I could have had a child close to her age had I gotten married and started just a little bit earlier, so it’s all kinds of appropriate that she address me in that way. I’m also not one of those that feels the need to be all hip and cool and make her call me by my first name. I actually find it pretty refreshing that this kind of respect still exists in some corners, even if I don’t internally feel old enough to be “Mrs. W_________,” and think it’s good not to discourage it. The fact is I am that old, and we really should encourage the respectful attitude that sweet young lady exhibits every time I’ve ever had any dealings with her.
I applaud her parents for teaching her well, and I know her parents and I’m sure they did. I also am glad to know there are still young people who understand respect and courtesy and exercise it genuinely. May I teach my kids to be respectful from the heart, as well. I don’t want them to just behave well outwardly and legalistically, my goal and hope for them is that they will want to do well and be respectful and courteous for God’s glory and because they have learned to love and fear Him. I want it to be a heart issue. This needs to be my aim in training them and it is my heart’s cry in prayer for them as well.
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