The Father’s Love: The Foundation for Parenting
To understand the foundation for parenting, your understanding of the Father’s love for you is crucial. It’s crucial because knowing His love is the fuel from which you love your children. We are made in His image; His love for us is how we want to love others, particularly our children.
Paul David Tripp says in his beautifully written advent devotional, Come Let Us Adore Him, the following about the love of God.
“You see, the real historical events of the incarnation of Jesus are our guarantee that God will continue to deliver to us everything we need. We need divine rescue, we need forgiveness, we need to be transformed, and we need to be delivered. We need God’s faithfulness, we need his patience, we need his wisdom, we need his power, we need his mercy, we need his rule, and we need his love. None of these things will wear out. None of these things will quit working. God will never get tired of blessing us with these things. God will never get impatient and decide to quit. He will never get so irritated with the things we say and do that he’ll turn his back on us and walk away. He will not get distracted or become weary.”
This description of God’s love for us, that He will never turn His back on us and walk away, is the very perspective and purpose of our heart that we as parents need to parent our children well. To love like God loves. We need His love for ourselves and we need His love to parent our children well; unending patience, grace, and mercy. Dear one, if you find your well running dry.
Here are some spiritual rhythms you may want to incorporate into your life so you have what you need to parent your little ones.
Spend time in His word. Remember, you are a child of God, His daughter before you are a wife and mom. Your source of strength comes from Him. Your value lies not in what you do but in who you are. No amount of mental ascension will give you the power to parent, but spending time in His presence will.
Worship, sing, journal, read, and make it a priority to do whatever you need to do to connect with Him.
Observe the Sabbath. One of the greatest gifts you can give to your children is to be a “sabbathed” woman. You must be intentional to enter into His rest. Take one day a week, set it aside, hold that time as sacred in your family’s rhythm of life, and rest.
For example, from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, put anything aside that looks like work for you and your family and rest, play games, take walks, whatever brings refreshment to your soul.
Here’s a fun idea: bookend the Sabbath with family dinners.
Create “pockets” of time with the Lord for yourself. Here’s what I mean. Throughout your busy day of caring for your family, take moments where you take three deep breaths and remind yourself of God’s goodness, grace, and peace.
Imagine Him being with you.
Holding you.
Walking with you.
Bring Him into your daily tasks. He loves you so much. He doesn’t grow weary of caring for you. When you are worn out, He is strong. When you are discouraged, He will encourage you.
If you need further guidance or support on your parenting journey, feel free to reach out to me. I'm here to help and support you!
Bless you!
Julia Mateer