Early, Often, Less: A Sustainable Way to Grow
From those conversations, and really Chuck's lesson, there were three words that kept coming to mind for me early, often, and less.
Early, Often, Less
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Identify what matters
I felt like we were there for an hour afterwards, just talking to families about the way they're trying to keep their children directed towards a self-disciplined life that really learns to be faithful servants to the Lord. From those conversations, and really Chuck's lesson, there were three words that kept coming to mind for me early, often, and less.
It's kind of a mantra that Summer and I have had for our entire parenting lives, a method of approach, a strategy that we both feel like has made an enormous difference when we implemented it, and ultimately I do want to share it with you today.
See the obstacles
Discipline and the setting of rules and the enforcing of rules will be a big theme today, because I have seen it too many times, where families raise their children to do pretty much as they please and push everything beyond the limits. And then once they move out, the last thing we tell them is, hey, by the way, God's not going to put up with any of that, so you're going to have to tighten everything up.
We need to show them the way while we can, not just our way, but God's, so that they will be prepared to serve Him.
Move from intention to action
They'll be like, if I throw this fit, if I hit my brother, if I tell this lie, chances are nothing will happen. That if we always took the time at the earliest possible level of any offense, and we did that every single time, no matter what, that either their behavior would change long term or we would just sell them.
Because early plus often eventually led to less frequently and without too much time passing, ended up not being a problem at all.
Keep building
I may not address it every time it comes up because I'm busy and, you know, I don't always have the time to sit down and go, okay, what did I just do? But later plus infrequently means I will probably be battling whatever that issue is until the day that I die, which I know is not God's plan for me.
Whether it's the elimination of some sin that doesn't belong, which we sometimes need to help our children with, or it's the implementing of something good that I need to be doing more frequently, which we also talk to our kids about.
Take the idea with you.
- 01Where do I see the problem or opportunity described in “Early, Often, Less: A Sustainable Way to Grow” in my own life?
- 02What Scripture or spiritual principle in this study most needs my attention?
- 03What one specific change can I make this week to put this teaching into practice?
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