For those of us who have children. Do you remember that first time you had a newborn baby in your house? Your newborn baby? Did you ever wonder? Where are the directions? Maybe you did. Me? I don’t recall asking that question in that same manner, but I know that question has come up in different ways in certain circumstances over the years. For me, it has been more along the lines of asking “What do I do now?”

I remember this line from one parent to another. “It gets easier as they grow up.” Really? What did they really mean? What I found out is, the young ones take more physical work, and the older ones take more intellectual work. Which one is easier? Which one is harder? The answer to that question is in the eye of the beholder. It is common to admit that all though you don’t want to go back to that physical demand young children require full time anytime soon; the intellectual work is definitely more taxing to the parent in many ways. I concur with that statement.

This month, high alert family situations have been on the table for us. Not unmanageable, just challenging. This event involved both the physical and mental demands of parenting. An aging parent health circumstance started the train. Travel for that event and challenges with teenage children were then just added to the strain.

When we left for the trip, we told our children that we are a FAMILY UNIT. This is not the first time we left our teenage children alone by any stretch of the imagination. They know what to do, as we have taught them and shown them. We told them they needed to step up and support each other especially with COMMUNICATION! while we are gone. That is what a family unit does. When the battle rages, we come together as a FAMILY UNIT. In military unit terms I will tell you about the battle.

Highspeed dropped the ball, another soldier went AWOL, and another soldier earned her purple heart in a fall in the battle. The Generals scrambled to keep it all in order.

What does the bible say about family? I found 5 bible verses that really sum it up for me.

Proverbs 22:6 Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

1 Timothy 5:8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Colossians 3:20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. (wouldn’t you just like to drill this one into your kid’s skull? <– not a bible verse)

1 Timothy 3:5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)<– bible verse is actually in parenthesis. Please go read 1 Timothy 3:1-4 That is important too!

Genesis 2:24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

I really like the order of presentation of these verses. Here is the thing: All this scripture is fantastic wisdom. Where in these verses are the directions?

Here we go again….

IT IS WORK! We have to do the Work. We need to learn what is right and what is wrong. Not only for ourselves but to teach our children. We need to know what is healthy and what is not healthy. It is Work! We cannot just sit in our own comfort and do what feels good. We have to get out of self and Work! Work to be a better family for the sake of your Unit and for God!

We need to use anything healthy we gained from our parents and pass it on to our children. We need to look at self and make changes to our unhealthy being to reflect better for our children. We need to find other healthy resources to help us help our kids; like this one as an example: The Whole Story. We need to show them the Love of God, through scripture, and our EXAMPLE.

We need to give them the message of Love.

We must start children out and follow through into their adult years showing them God’s way. We must show children how to obey not only us but God. We need to do this with Love, just like God does. We need to show our children that we must obey God and our parents out of Love.

When we Obey out of Love, we can then grow our Faith, to produce Fruit and gain the Gifts so we can Spread the Word in God’s Church. As this process continues the husband and wife who were originally joined as one flesh in marriage, grow deeper in their union with God together.

AND The Cycle Continues…