strength of character

I went camping with 40 13-year-olds last week for a school camp.
We were down south of Sydney in the beautiful Ulladalla
region. The students enjoyed sleeping in tents, ocean swimming,
roasting marshmallows around a bonfire, a night walk along the beach
and exploring the rocks.

The focus of the camp was the climb up Pigeon House Mountain
which is 720 m above sea level and rated as a difficult 4 hour climb.

We managed to coax all the students to the top,
even up the 13 sets of near vertical ladders at the peak.
The 360 degree view was breath taking.

What was interesting was observing the spirit with which each
child met the challenge. Some complained with every step.
Others loved the difficulty and strived to reach the top as quickly as they could.
Some plodded with quiet resignation.
One little girl really struggled with the walk but smiled all the day.

How would your child climb?

Focus and Fun

So why plan the year?

We are called to live sober (careful) lives and to one day give an account for each of our days.

Balancing our day, our week and our year, enables us to live a holy and disciplined life.

To best train, enjoy, and cherish our precious children requires thought, planning and prayer.

All that we do, including the rest times, fun times and mundane times, is part of this goal.

"Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. " Titus 1:8

Hopes or Plans?

Likewise with my children, I have hopes for things I wish to see growing in their hearts, yet it is concrete plans that will greatly aid this process.

When they were toddlers, I would keep the goals very simple - aiming for one goal in each area (spiritual, physical, emotional, social and intellectual) - partly not to ovewrwhelm my child by wanting too much too soon, but mostly so I could keep track of where I was with each child!

For example, when Emily was 3 years old, my goals looked like this;

spiritual - memorising passages of scripture over morning tea each day (eg Lords Prayer, 10 commanments, Psalm 121)

physical - dance class once a week

emotional - focus on sibling friendships and conflict resolution with sibling play time each day

social - have one friendship visit each week (at our house, their house or a park)

intellectual - work through a series of pre-school workbooks in one-on-one time each morning


Proverbs 22:6 encourages us to "Train up a child in the way he should go . . . " and 'training' requires intentional, deliberate and purposeful steps.

Wishes or Goals?

One of the things I love about the January holidays is long lunches with good friends.

Thinking about the year ahead was just one topic of conversation.

Wanting some things to be different is one thing.
Planning for some things to be different is another.

I try to set goals to work towards over the year
in each area of my life - spiritual, social, physical, emotional and intellectual.

Keeping the goals realistic keeps them managable and I tend to only have 1 - 3 goals per area.

For example, one of each of my goals this year will be:

Intellectual - complete a counselling course (this can be part of my PD for school so should be doable)

Physical - add competitive tennis to my social tennis and basketball each week

Spiritual - finish reading the entire bible (2 year cycle) and read an Elisabeth Elliot book

Emotional - take the last half hour of each day to renew and replenish

Social - aim for a balance of people and home days in school holidays

Enjoy the planning, the journey and the results!

www.4thefamily.com.au

Hello,

I have just finished watching the IDENTITY dvd by David and Charissa Scotford.

It is beautifully shot in our Great South Land (between lovely Perth and wonderful Broken Hill)

and is just over 15 minutes long.

The focus is on bringing out the best in our children, encouraging and guiding them to be all they should be.

The presentation is practical, biblical and very balanced.

I encourage you to check it out via their website.

How can eternity influence daily tasks?

" When I used to sit down for devotions with our four boys at home my mind wasn't simply, "Ok, I have a duty as a dad: I'm supposed to do devotions at night." My mind was, "What will they become?"

We did devotions daily.

The goal isn't just to fulfill some little task that dads are supposed to do. Rather, you're building men who hopefully someday will have absorbed so much of God and so much of the Bible that it's going to shape their whole world.

And they might wind up going to Pakistan to help build shelters for earthquake victims."
JOHN PIPER DESIRING GOD BLOG

whatever

As my two sons and I sat down to our dinner of macaronin and cheese with salad, we were discussing integrity and initiative. It was a light and fun conversation, and it is always

interesting to get a young man's perspective on things.

As we were chatting, I was reminded again how precious meal times are. They are not

simply a time for eating. They are opportunities for fun, conversation,

memory remembering or making, building up and teaching.

Whatever

we do can,

and

should

be done for His glory.

Every part of every day

can be used for self,

for waste

or for eternity.

Not in a frantic, desperate sort of way, but rather a gentle, intentional

careful choice manner - to deliberately live a full and abundant life, enjoying purposeful living.

Mealtimes with toddlers are often chaotic and noisy.

Yet you can still be modelling and gently encouraging

the manners and meal time patterns you wish to see in the future.

It will take time, as with all areas of parenting, but the fruit

will be happy, peaceful and holy conversations - over meals!