Monday, February 22, 2010
Being a good steward
It seems to me that teaching our children to be good stewards is ridiculously exhausting! It is my belief that we are responsible for being good stewards of our possessions. Those who cannot be entrusted with little, cannot be entrusted with much. My husband and I take care of our things. My husband religiously changes the oil in our vehicles and generators and tractor. He replaces broken fire bricks in the wood cookstove and maintains the log splitter. I mend clothes, replace buttons, glue broken chairs and make sure that everything is in its place. The general idea is that by taking care of our things and maintaining them, they will serve us when we need them. We hope not to have to spend money to replace things because we have taken care of them. We believe that in taking care of what God has entrusted to us, we honor Him. The trouble seems to be instilling these character qualities in our children.Don't get me wrong - we never want our children to care more about things than people! But we do want them to understand that in taking care of things, they are being respectful to the people that have provided them with those things. I don't want to be a mother that is always harping on my children to clean this and pick up that, never giving them room to be children. But I also don't want to be a mother that spends her life picking up coats dropped in the middle of the floor and cleaning toothpaste wadded up on the counter.
My children are not good stewards of their possessions. I have come to the conclusion that I am responsible for the problem. We live in a small space, and all of my children share rooms. The little children get into the bigger kids things. I need to teach them to respect their brother's and sister's property. And, my kids have too much "stuff". As an adult, I can manage more things - they can't. I have allowed them to acquire to much to care for. In that, I have set them up to fail. I have to re-group, help them weed out their belongings. I have to inspect their rooms when they are sent to clean them. As they learn to be faithful with a little, they can be given more.
This parenting thing is not a piece of cake! I often feel so inadequate. Sometimes I hate having to be a grown up. However, being a mom is teaching me so much. It is teaching me to lead by example, to expect from myself what I expect from my children, to persevere and to be consistent. I want my children to live a life pleasing to God. I want them to have the tools to be productive members of society. Giving them the tools require that I have them. What a tall order!
I have so many things to figure out. Parenting is a walk of faith!
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