The Power of Purposeful Parenting

(Jingle)

"There's a new kinda' Cheerios

Waiting in your breakfast bowl

It's the honey of an 'O ...

It's Honey Nut Cheerios

It's the sunny taste of honey

Kinda' wholesome and kinda' nutty

It's a honey of an 'O ...

It's Honey Nut Cheerios!"

Now, what in tarnation, you may be thinking, do Cheerios have to do with anything? Welp, you know those people who turn a conversation about any and everything into being about God? The comedian Michael Junior does a bit on people like this. Watch!

A Parent's SUPERPOWER

Being "oversaved" may come across comically, but there's something to the sincerity of a heart for God. The other day my boys dressed up in superhero costumes, performing as the superheroes they were dressed as. After they left the room, they came back and told me that I'm a super mom because I have kids who are superheroes. They even told me my superpower is kindness. I thought that was sweet. Plus, it parallels the design of parents passing things on to their kids through parenting, genetics, or behavior their kids observe. I was oh so glad they found something positive to say that we have in common!

On the flip side, even when there are not-so-positive traits passed from parent to child, there's still a fix that can come from an Almighty God in heaven. When it seems that parents have done something on which a child's dysfunction can be blamed, this doesn't have to be the end-all-be-all.

The Bible points to the fact that God, being the original and ultimate Source, is consistent in His providence, and that even when father and mother fall short, the Lord comes through in the clutch to shift perspective and show us who's BOSS (Psalm 27:10). Because He's the end-all-be-all ... shoot, He's ALL -- period ... nothing negative has to have the unconquerable power to cause one to live dysfunctionally for a lifetime. Additionally, nothing positive should overshadow the kind of overshadowing that God has the jurisdiction to do for any life.

I'm So Glad They Prayed

This Christmas Kwesi, the cubs, and I went to be with my dad and stepmom in North Carolina, and we enjoyed ourselves very much. When we were getting ready to walk out of their front door to return home, Dad gathered us all to pray. This said to me that no matter that I'm a 38 year-old wife and mom, my godly and loving dad is still going to cover me out of his BIG love for me --- the daughter he raised ... and for her immediate family of which she's now a part. Purposeful, godly parenting just can't be beat.

I can also recall when my mother and step dad were about to depart from our Baltimore home a few years ago, to return to theirs in Texas; they prayed for us also. It was here, again, that I was reminded to be so grateful for godly parents -- parents who, I'm sure, know they've not done all things right -- but who love God and practice prayer. Being even more candid, it's been such a blessing to have step parents who've come right alongside my biological parents and have loved me as their very own. I'm talkin' bout a snicker doodle kinda' love (see SnickerDoodle Love post).

A Good Foundation

I remember, during moments of my childhood, perceiving that my mom was over-the-top with infusing Jesus in seemingly errrrryyyy-thang we did. Deuteronomy 11 gives me flashbacks when it says:

“Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder. Teach them to your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning until you fall into bed at night" (vs. 18, 19 MSG).

I used to be like ...

However, today I'm grateful these verses give me flashbacks to my childhood, for it was there, through purposeful parenting, that a foundation was established in me ... a foundation that I live from today. I had a mama who didn't let no little teenage eye rollin' back her into a corner and cause her to let up on what she was dishin' out to me. As far as I remember, she remained consistent and added some spicy correction when I got too sassy about the way I received her God guidance. And I'm thankful for a father who showed me crazy love, as he would, on many school days, hand me the last few dollars he had in his wallet so I could eat lunch. He's a father who hung in there with me when I lost my natural mind at 15 years old and was making choices that he and God knew I hadn't been taught to make.

All JESUS Erryy-thang

And so when I laugh at the fact that some of the Winans siblings created a soulful rendition of the Cheerios jingle with a "Hallelujah" on the end of it, I'm laughing at myself because I now do stuff like that. I'll put a gospel typa' run on the end of a cartoon jingle I may be watching with my two young sons simply because I'm a church girl. And I'm a church girl because my mama and daddy, though they parented me apart from each other for much of my life, had me in church errrrryyyyyy Sunday. From their labor of love through introducing me to Christ and keeping me involved in things Christ-centered, I'm more than wrapped up in JESUS today. And this, I know, will carry me through a life that's gotta' shine brighter as it goes on because the Bible says so (Prov. 4:18 NKJV).

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for being purposeful in your parenting. Because of you, all things are JESUS for me. Even Cheerios! Ha!

#Cheerios #Power #Purposeful #Parenting