Shepherding a Child's Heart

Normally over Christmas break I do my best to catch up on extra reading that I have no time to do when classes are in session.  There are so many great books that I wanted to read, but seeing as Dan and I will be taking on a new role in our lives pretty soon, I dove into a book that Dan's friend, Paul, got us called Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp.  Obviously, I am presenting a review of this book from someone who has never read a parenting book before and has no kids and therefore has no experience in parenting, so I say that as a disclaimer (I don't know if me not being a parent will help or hurt my review of this book... but we have to start somewhere, right?)

I don't have too many criticisms of the book, mainly because I don't have experience to say that has never "worked."  However, this book did open my eyes to just how serious the task of parenting is, and because of that I am thankful it is one of the first books I read on the topic.  This is not something we are going to take lightly; there is much more that comes with getting pregnant than picking our nursery colors, which may come as a surprise to many if you spend all of your time on Pinterest. (I say that sarcastically because I have spent too much time looking at nursery things on Pinterest and our little one won't even have a nursery until October!)

So, with that being said, I'm excited to share with you *some* quotes and advice I learned from this book.  There was a lot that this book covers and I could go much more in depth than I will, but I tried to pull out main themes.  So I don't bore you too much I am going to split it up into two different days.  Today I just want to share with you the main theme of the book, and then in my next post I will share further in detail regarding other parenting tips Tripp gives.

He states:

"The central focus of child-rearing is to bring children to a sober assessment of themselves as sinners.  They must understand the mercy of God, who offered Christ as sacrifice for sinners. The focal point of your discipline and correction must be your children seeing their utter inability to do the things that God requires unless they know the help and strength of God.  Your correction must hold the standard of righteousness as high as God holds it.  God's standard is correct behavior flowing from a heart that loves God and has God's glory as the sole purpose of life.... the alternative is a lesser standard that does not require grace and does not cast them on Christ, but rather on their own resources." pg. 120

Something that I continually kept thinking throughout this whole book is how I need to be constantly in the Word and walking with God to be able to parent well.  If I am supposed to be pointing our kids toward God and showing them His grace and mercy in our everyday living, I need to start seeing that in my life now.  I need to start evaluating my heart and recognizing when I am living in self sufficiency so I can point it out in our kids life.  I need to start recognizing my sin more and asking for forgiveness immediately so I can model for our kids what that looks like.

Parenting is way more than I can handle.  I know I will never be ready for this journey, but I also know that nobody is prepared to be a parent, and nobody is a perfect parent.  Thankfully, we have a perfect God who gave us instruction in His Word on how to parent, and also gives us the grace and mercy we need to be patient, loving, and an encouragement our kids.  While I don't think this parenting thing is going to be a breeze, I do believe it's going to be one of the most fun and rewarding experiences Dan and I will have.  We're so ready ;)

More to come!