July 2017 Parent Update

Families are in need of more calm and less stress! The breathless pace we're living in is tearing families apart. Still, there is something that can be done about the stress you and your family experiences. A lot of stress can be removed if you make the tough choices necessary to gain control over your schedule.

Here are 5 choices you can make to help eliminate the stress in your life:

1. Create a Calm Environment at Home. Make your home a safe, calm haven from the madness going on in the outside world. Try not to overreact to circumstances of home life. Sure, many issues need to be addressed, but when you get angry or frustrated, overreactions are common and family stress levels rise. Look to cool down before you respond to such situations.

2. Refresh Your Spirit. Make time for God everyday. Reading a daily devotional each day is a great way to refresh your spirit in the presence of God. Encourage your family to do the same. Consider a regular family devotional time.

3. Renew Your Body. To eliminate stress, we need to be people who reflect balance in our physical lives. Everyone in your family needs plenty of rest, exercise, and a healthy diet.

4. Strengthen Family Relationships. Our families provide us with relational connections that will sustain us through both good times and bad. Strained or broken family relationships are naturally accompanied by stress. To eliminate stress, take the lead with your family to make sure your relationships become and stay healthy.

5. Roll with the Punches. No family is exempt from difficulties in life. Some are brief "moments" while others are "seasons." How we respond to the hard times is a determining factor of whether or not stress will wreak havoc with our family. Stay flexible when the tough times happen and your family will still be standing when those times have passed.

In the end, your family's stress levels have a lot to do with your own choices. You can choose to let busyness, over-commitment, and hard times take their toll on your family, or you can proactively make choices to lower the stress your family experiences. Begin today by making choices to ruthlessly eliminate stress in your home!

Parents are mentors to their kids. Studies tell us that for good or bad, you are their most influential person in the most important stages of their life. From the day our kids are born, we become mentors, involved in the process of leaving a legacy to a new generation.

To better understand what it means to mentor our kids, let's look at four biblical examples of mentoring:

1. Jesus and His Disciples: Being Real. Jesus spent time "doing life" with His disciples. Like your family, they lived out their daily lives together. They observed how Jesus carried out His day. They watched Him and they knew His habits. Of course, Jesus was perfect and we are not. The thing is, kids would have a very difficult time relating to parents who were perfect, so just being real is one of the great ways of mentoring.

Your kids need to see your everyday life, your faith, even times when you are vulnerable. I heard a missionary tell an audience once, "You are the only Jesus somebody knows." You are the only Jesus your child knows.

2. Eli and Samuel: Instruction in Hearing the Word of God. You probably remember the story: Eli was young Samuel's teacher. While Eli was asleep, God spoke to Samuel. Samuel didn't recognize the voice of God, so three times he interrupted Eli's sleep. Finally, Eli figured out God was speaking to Samuel and Eli taught Samuel how to respond to the word of God.

The most effective way to mentor our kids in hearing the word of God is for our children to see us reading and listening to His Word. Through this we teach them, and another generation is able to hear and respond to God.

3. Moses and Joshua: Passing on Wisdom. Moses was very intentional about passing on his wisdom and preparing Joshua for the Promised Land. You, too, are in a relationship where it is your job to pass on wisdom to your kids at appropriate times in their lives.

When our kids were growing up, Cathy and I discovered that it was best to find a teachable moment in the everyday happenings of life to engage in meaningful conversations with them. You have wisdom to pass along. Find ways to creatively share it with your kids so it doesn't feel like school or a lecture.

4. Paul and Timothy: Sharing Life. Paul called Timothy his son and treated him as such even though Timothy had other parents. As they lived, worked, and traveled together, Paul mentored Timothy. It is in the daily sharing of life that your habits, character, and lifestyle will bless your kids.