Parenting tip #2

Haggai continues to show me how to be a better parent. Amazing that so much is packed into such a small book!

Today's tip: For children to become who they are meant to be requires persistent encouragement!

Sometimes I am quick to tear my kids down and not so quick to encourage. Correcting the same behavior again and again, growing frustrated when there's a schedule to keep and their behavior isn't moving us in that direction - you know, the stuff of being a kid who has no clue that the adult world has pressures, schedules, commitments - can drive me crazy! I hear myself yelling and know, deep down, that I don't want to be that monster.

Really, I want to show my kids the love of Christ. "May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word." (2 Thess. 2:16-17). I want to "bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." (Eph. 6:4). Yelling, screaming, growing frustrated... not the stuff of the Lord!

Haggai could have grown frustrated with the Jewish people when they didn't rebuild the temple right away. But he didn't. He faithfully spoke the Word of God into Zerubbabel. He encouraged them to finish what they started, the rebuilding of the temple. He encouraged again and again:

Haggai 1:1, "In the second year..., on the first day of the sixth month..."

Haggai 2:1, "In the second year..., on the twenty-first day of the seventh month..."

Haggai 2:10, "In the second year...., on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month..."

God shows us, through Haggai, how to encourage our kids. Consistently and repeatedly, we should encourage them to make the right choices. We should build them up and not tear them down.

Dear God, Thank you for the message you sent through the prophet Haggai. Thank you for the lessons this little book teaches us as parents. Please forgive me for my impatience with my kids. Help me understand that it takes time and lots of practice for my kids to become who they are meant to be. Please help me be slow to anger and quick to encourage. I praise you for your love and wisdom. In your son's name, Amen