This chapter begins with a close look at the Beginning - Adam and Eve, their true goodness, the fall, and then how they suffered and were no longer good in themselves. It was a great study on those beginning chapters but I personally had a hard time making the transition to my kids (Maybe I've been out of school too long to bring these deep thoughts together!!)
The author brought the idea of "being good" to the forefront again but I do see her point. She talks about how we often praise our kids for the good things they do by saying, "You are so good", "You did a good job", "What a great kid you are" and so on. By doing this, building their self esteem, you begin to form a person who will always crave the opinion of others. Rather, we need to point the good behavior back to examples of Christ. For example, "I noticed you shared your swing. Do you know what that reminds me of? How Christ shared his life with us. I'm so thankful for God's working in your life that way. I know that neither of us would ever do anything kind if God wasn't helping us. I'm so thankful". (pg42) I totally agree that the second response is fantastic . . . and I wish that I could think of that without needing note cards to help me ;-) I DO really like the idea that she gives about praying with your child about an area they struggle with, like sharing, and thanking God for what he has shared with us - then ask Him to help the child with their own struggle. And don't forget, when you see them doing that very thing, remind them of how God answered their prayer!
This quote spoke to me: "The one encouragement we can always give our children (and one another) is that God is more powerful than our sin, and he's strong enough to make us want to do the right thing." . .. "Our Encouragement should always stimulate praise for God's grace rather than for our goodness" (pg 43)
Now, this is where I get real :-) The concepts shared are great and in a perfect world, the right things would come out of my mouth every day and I would lead my children down the road of understanding that only Jesus was truly good yet he chose to leave that goodness and come to earth to die for us. Most days, I'm lucky to remember my name HA What this great lesson has taught me is to try and be more mindful of opportunities where I CAN teach a lesson. Realistically, a 2 and 3 year old are not going to sit through more than a sentence most of the time so trying to teach a lesson through every moment is not going to happen . .. but I can work on focusing on one thing at a time. (I wonder if there are verses that apply to potty training . .. .)
I'm still on the fence with this book - it's very deep with maybe a little "legalize" in it but there are some good concepts so I'll keep reading :-)
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