All to Him I Owe

The Tools of a Spiritual Leader in the Home

A family without problems doesn’t exist. In fact, the moment you think you have solved one problem, you immediately realize you have another one. After having our first daughter, I thought that we had parenting figured out. With our only having one child at the time, we could place all of our attention on figuring out how to deal with her problems.  But shortly after the birth of our second daughter, I realized that there were some things that worked for our first child that wouldn’t work for our second. God was intent on keeping us learning and not coasting. Parenting children keeps us learning and regularly picking up tools that enable us to do the job better within our homes.

So, what is in your toolbox?

Many parents begin the process of parenting with a small collection of tools in their toolbox. For example, many have the tool of observation—they have seen things in other parent’s lives that they have noted and desire to use in their parenting. Many parents also have the tool of experience—they parent in certain ways because that is the way they were raised. Some use the tool of manipulation, bribing their children into certain forms of behavior, while others use the tool of fear, forcing certain types of behavior. The point is that all parents have a toolbox, but do they have the right tools in the toolbox?

“The man whose only tool is a hammer finds that most of his problems look a lot like nails.”

Parents’ tools are revealed by how they view their problems. Likewise, their view of their problems is revealed by what tools they use. In the weeks ahead, we will be examining the toolbox of a parent who desires to be a spiritual leader. For now, let’s just ask ourselves if there is a tool we’re currently using that we know we shouldn’t be using.

Learning,

Pastor Ron