Lessons You Can Teach Your Sons While Watching the Super Bowl

By on February 2, 2012 in Life Lessons

On Sunday night, we’ll be hanging out with friends watching the  Super Bowl. In years past, the boys have run around and not paid much attention to the game. As they are getting older though they are taking more interest is whatever it is that has all the daddies (and some of the mommies) so focused on the TV.

My boys getting tackled by Daddy!

As parents, we can take opportunities like watching the Super Bowl to sneak in a few life-lessons. We can remind our boys that:

  1. God is sovereign over all. You might hear someone say, “Awh, God doesn’t care about football.” That’s just not true. Just as He cares for each person playing in this big game and has a plan for their lives, He has a plan for our lives. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them,” Ephesians 2:10.
  2. Team work is essential. When the quarter back hands off to the running back, who crosses the goal line to score, everyone on the team celebrates!  Everyone had to work together to get six points. The offensive line blocked, the receivers ran their routes, and the opportunity to score happened because they worked together. Each player is gifted in a specific way. That is also true of the body of Christ, the church. Each member has an important role to play, a specific gifting from the Spirit. When we work together as we should, God is honored! “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good,” 1 Corinthians 12:7.
  3. They are all following the play book. The players are listening to their coaches. The coaches are listening to their coordinators. Everyone is looking at the play book, the plays they designed so they would be as prepared as possible. The Bible is our play book. It gives us guidelines for life. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
  4. The winners and the losers should be thankful for the opportunity they had to play the game. No matter what the outcome is, there is something to be thankful for. 1 Timothy 6:6 says, “Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment.” We can work to find contentment no matter what our circumstances are.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to teach my boys some life lessons while just hanging-out, eating slices of pizza. This is how we can truly follow Deuteronomy 6:7 and teach our children when we sit, when we walk, when we lie down, and when we rise.

What other lessons can we teach our boys while we’re watching the Super Bowl?

4 Comments

The Gift of a Lifetime

By on December 16, 2011 in Life Lessons, Raising Older Boys

Want to give your son a gift that keeps on giving? Help him find his niche.

It’s something to consider as you choose gifts this Christmas, something to ponder as you think about the new year. How can you help your son find his bent – his calling – in life?

It starts early.

If you have a young son, remember you’re always nurturing his sense of self. Offhand comments that degrade or insult wound deeply, whether they come from you, Dad, or a sibling. So create an environment of respect.

That doesn’t mean you never criticize or correct; far from it. Boys need boundaries. They need to know you care enough to set guidelines and hold them accountable. In fact, that’s a big part of self-esteem – feeling you’re worth the time and trouble Mom and Dad are expending.

As he grows…

As he gets older and shows interest in music or sports or history, encourage him! Let him take lessons or join a team. Be realistic, though, and ready to help channel those interests. I have a friend whose son absolutely loved sports. It quickly began obvious that playing sports, however, was not his forte. She encouraged his interest in following sports, though, and he’s now pursuing a career as a sports broadcaster.

Give him some power

Loosen those reins a bit, Mom, as he grows. If you want him to desire to become something, you have to let him have some freedom to become. Think he’s not quite ready for a summer job? Help him find one that he can do, maybe a few hours a week. Let him have some responsibility and even let him pay his way once in a while. Once he gets a regular job, he can contribute gas money or pay part of his cell phone bill. Let him earn money to buy gifts for others. You’re encouraging his desire for self-sufficiency. He’ll need that in a few years.

Expectations

Expectations can be your greatest enemy. Look carefully at your expectations for your son; remember they’re your expectations, not necessarily his. Don’t panic if your son is finishing high school and has no idea what his major will be. God can do amazing things! Take a deep breath when your college son calls home and says, “I want to change my major.” Impart whatever wisdom you have, but remember, at some point they have to make their own decisions.

Prayer

Above all, Mom, keep praying. It’s the most you can do. Your son is in the hands of a loving God, so you can sit back and breathe easy! Uphold your son in prayer, encourage him (after all, he’s “fearfully and wonderfully made”), and commit him to the Lord.

Boys are bundles of promise. Handle them with care, being “joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12).

3 Comments

I’ve forgotten my babies.

By on December 13, 2011 in a mother's heart, connection with boys, Gentle Parenting, Life Lessons, reflection

{We invite you to grab a FREE PDF download of our newest eBook, Hope for the Weary Mom. To get your copy, subscribe to the MOB Society by email, look for a verification email in your inbox, and click the link to your download at the end.}

********

I have a really bad memory. Just ask my husband. Or, I don’t know, maybe it’s perfectly average. I mean, most people don’t remember every moment of their lives, right? Every joke, every cool breeze, every good book.

 

I forget these kind of things almost instantaneously.

 

And normally it doesn’t bother me that much. But once in awhile, I’ll be going through old pictures, and I’ll find a picture of my seven-year-old as a one-year-old – and I find myself thinking, “I don’t remember this child”. I remember this picture, I might remember this day, but I don’t remember this child.

 

 

Everyone tells you to treasure the time with your children because it’s over in a heartbeat.

 

 

I’ve not been treasuring. I’ve not been intentionally treasuring this era of my life. I’ve been tired, and unfocused, and selfish, and just waiting for freaking little person bedtime so I could watch Friends, or something equally dumb.

 

 

And now I realize that I’ve lost them. I’ve lost my babies, they’re gone. My youngest is three.

 

 

Once when I was about eight years old my family moved to Florida for just one year. One day, when it was raining, my step-dad and I stood in the mouth of our open garage. And he told me to remember that moment. To concentrate on the water rushing down the paved hill of our street; the way it sounded, the way it smelled, the way it looked.

 

And I did. To this day I can transport myself pack to those minutes of my life and appreciate them.

 

What I’ve realized as life has gone on is that we have to be intentional to remember the good in our life. The hurt, and the pain, and the unfortunate seers itself onto our hearts and into our minds almost against our will. We can be weighed down with these unwanted memories for a lifetime. But the good? We forget it so quickly.

 

So I’m determined to remember my babies. The smiles, and the jokes, and the round cheeks, and the lisps, and the laughs that far outweigh the poop and the tears and the gray hairs. Because I’m a little bit terrified of forgetting them. And waking up sometime very soon to an empty house, with my cup overflowing with regrets.

 

Let’s burn today into our memories. Because really, y’all – it won’t last forever.

*********

The winners of the Hope for the Weary Mom giveawaysfrom the MOB Society are:

Hope Bag from Dayspring – Suzy

Hope piece from Red Letter Art – Laura

David Nevue CD – Mom of Four

Ladies: Please check your email and get back to us ASAP! Congratulations!

 

 

 

17 Comments

What If Someone Could Give Your Son The Gift Of Hope?

By on November 9, 2011 in a little fun, a mother's heart, Christmas, connection with boys, Life Lessons, Uncategorized

This time of year, there are myriad ways to engage your family in service activities.  But one of my personal favorite organizations to involve my children with is Operation Christmas Child.  As a mother of a boy, I feel that this is particularly important, because compared to those packed for their female counterparts, there are far fewer shoebox gifts planned, prepared, and prayed over for boys.

So basically, impoverished boys in third world countries are not as likely to be touched by the love of Jesus through a shoebox gift.

And to my heart, that flutters happy sighs when my little boy knows he is loved,

that is not ok.

So what can we do?

The answer is easy: we can pack shoebox gifts for boys, with our boys!

There are so many ways to foster a sense of connection between our sons and a ministry, but few parallel praying for a boy halfway around the world, hand selecting gifts to bless him with, and even tracking the shoebox online, to see what country he lives in.

Shoebox gifts are a practical way to demonstrate the love of Jesus to a little boy, through the love your son has shown in packing the gift.  A shoebox offers more than a soccer ball, candy or shoes; it offers a chance for him to hear the gospel.  It is truly the gift of hope.

And as the mother of a boy, wouldn’t your heart just burst to know that someone – a stranger half a world away -  could give your son that precious gift?

Won’t you join me in touching the hearts and lives of boys through shoebox gifts…both in our homes and across the globe?

 

4 Comments
« Older Posts