Parenting....one of life's great adventures. What can it be compared to, baking bread, training for a race, or possibly both?
The thought of making bread may seem very intimidating and time consuming. A lot like parenting. We are given the gift of a child. Many young parents leave the hospital intimidated by this small baby with maybe an inkling of the investment of time they will be making. In the beginning of the bread making process there is a lot of hands on involvement. You mix the water and sugar with the yeast, add in the butter, and then the flour. Next comes one of the most important parts, kneading the dough. The first few years of parenting are very hands on and time consuming, but some of the most important years. Love, trust, and boundaries are established offering security. A child will thrive when they feel secure. Next, the dough needs time to rise. There is not as much hands on activity, but a time to check in making sure the environment is conducive. As our children enter those middle years of their childhood they will not need as much of our time as when they were little. But, we do want to make sure their environment is right for them to continue to safely grow and mature. After the dough has risen, not once but twice, it is time to bake it. If the previous steps were followed the dough will rise and bake into a beautiful loaf of bread, the intended purpose of the dough. We are entering this final stage with our own daughters. It is with humility and joy that we see them becoming beautiful young women living out God's purposes for their lives. Now, what about training for that race? It is hard to believe that five years ago this June, the girls and I ran our first 5K. Hannah was in 5th grade and Abby was in 3rd grade. We actually started training during Spring Break. Eric, the only runner in the family at the time, became our personal trainer. He mapped out a plan for us to build our way up to running 3.1 miles! Our first day we drove to Resurrection High School to run our three laps around the track. We slowly added laps and miles. A warm early morning before school the week before our race we drove to Bunker Hill Forest Preserve to run the 3.1 trial run. After our trial run we celebrated our great accomplishment with yogurt smoothies before school. With our goal in mind, finishing a 5K, we began to train. What is your goal for your children? What steps will you take to get there? Our goal is to raise godly daughters who find their identity in Christ and are empowered to live their lives to bring Him glory. Both baking bread and training for a race are a process. There are intentional steps involved. Parenting is a process, there are intentional steps to take to get from point A to point B. I challenge you to evaluate where you are at in this process to see if you are still on target to accomplish your goal. "I believe that trust in God, love for one's children, and prayer for wisdom are a recipe for successful parenthood far more reliable than all the books and seminars in the world." Elisabeth Elliot, The Shaping of a Christian Family.
3 Comments
3/26/2015 07:54:31 am
Love your tender and nurturing approach, Becky. So proud who you've become.
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Tim Pappageorge
3/26/2015 03:37:57 pm
This is really wonderful. It's uncanny how much I can hear your voice in the words here.
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AuthorI am a woman who loves everything about making a house a home. I enjoy meal planning, cooking, baking, sewing, crafting, and decorating. Not so much cleaning and laundry, but that goes along with caring for a home. I am blessed to be married to a pastor and we have had the privilege of raising two daughters. Archives
July 2021
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