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groovyoldlady
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Name: Sherry
Gender: Female
Interests: Writing, Bible, cooking, gardening, blue frogs, homeschooling, parenting
Expertise: Erradication of dust bunnies
Occupation: Living for my Savior
Industry: Home sciences
Message: message me
Member Since:
9/23/2006
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| Just posting a quick hooey so Xanga won't drop me. I still need Xanga help for pics and links since Blogger and my Safari keep arguing with each other. | | |
| Fare Thee Well
Well, my Xanga days are about to end.
I have a strong readership at Groovy's Ruminations on Blogger. I'm getting a great deal of traffic there and almost none here.
Therefore I am going to abandon my practice of posting on both sites. I will, however, keep my Blog open so I can still read and comment on YOUR blogs and so I can use the wonderful link feature here on Xanga. (I have yet to figure out how to post links on Blogger!)
So come and visit me at Groovy's Ruminations.
See ya there!
Groovy
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| Goat Buckets and Bandaids All In One Aamazing Post!
You want/need bandaids? (and what Mom/Gramma/Auntie doesn't?)
5 Minutes For Mom is having a contest and the winner gets bazillions of groovy Nexcare bandaids.
Sign up for it...NOW!
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The girlies had to pick up a few supplies to care for their goats when they start going to shows later this summer. One bucket (to share) was on the list. Naturally they each wanted their own bucket.
Two white buckets.
White is boring.
The girlies hate boring.
Now we are the proud owners of the two most unique buckets in goatdom!
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| I got this fun Meme idea from Midnight Musings.
You have to Google your Christian name followed by the word "needs" and see what you come up with. You should, by the rules of the meme, list ten phrases. I did NOT click on any of the websites and I wouldn't suggest your doing so either.....Who knows what it might be!
My first name's needs:
Sherry needs "This". (And no, I did not click the link to find out what "this" is!)
Sherry needs instruction in phonics. (I'm a homeschooler, so "Duh"!)
Sherry needs alot of time to care for [her children].
Sherry needs to discuss the situation with her boss. ("Honey, I need alot of time to care for our children. No wait...I need a BREAK from our children!")
Sherry needs to keep this board as enjoyable as it has been. (Is an oak or a walnut finish more enjoyable?)
Sherry needs to be consumed within a few days of opening! (Vinegar, anyone?)
Sherry needs to have a control group. (A whole group to control me? Whoa!)
Sherry needs help reviewing the independent studies. (Sherry is grading papers again. sigh.)
Sherry needs to inform David that she can never again receive gifts of this sort from him. (Cut it out, David!)
Sherry needs a set of pots and pans. (Sounds reasonable to me!)
And then there's Groovyoldlady. You thought she was perfect and complete, but as it turns out...
Groovyoldlady seriously needs help! (Thanks, Tammy)
Groovyoldlady needs your help to make THIS the best lens on Squidoo.
Groovyoldlady needs a nap now.
Groovyoldlady needs to know at a glance. (That's why she skims and speed reads!)
Groovyoldlady needs your support (for theTrek Across Maine...Please donate to the American Lung Association. Our deadline is May 31!!!) You can donate online by clicking on one of the following links:
Groovy's Pledge Page
Mulletman's Pledge Page
That was it for groovyoldlady. It appears that I am the ONLY groovyoldlady on the worldwide web. Whoo-hoo! So I tried for 5 more by googling "Groovy needs"....
Groovy needs to move to core/script. (I've been thinking that for a while now, but I was afraid to try it.)
Groovy needs a full time leader. (That's why I depend on God!)
Groovy needs to find the signature. (And the check with the signature on it!)
Groovy needs to do a better job of error handling. (Yep...)
Groovy needs a strategy for helping programmers live with ambiguities. (Groovy has a strategy. It is "Live with it, you geeks!")
YOUR Turn!!
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The Evil Voice of Doom and I Had a Little Chat Yesterday
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Groovy: There, now doesn't that look nice? I even actually pulled up the door mat and mopped under it. Time for a chocolate break!
The Evil Voice of Doom: Nice? You call that nice? You mopped up all the loose dirt, but there are still scuff marks everywhere.
Groovy: Sigh. I know, but this floor is SO big and so stinkin' white that just vacuuming and mopping it takes an hour and a half. I'm pooped!
EVoD: (Sneering. Well, she sounds likes she's sneering) Yes. And you just spent all that time and work and it still looks like crap. Come on chick. "If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well." Go get that Mr. Scrubby pad and finish what you've started.
Groovy: Yeah...OK
Girly Girl: OOOoOoooooOOOOooooo Mom. Are you going to use the Mr. Scrubby thingy to clean off the scuff marks? That's EVEN FUNNER THAN MOPPING!!!! I want to do it. Please oh please!!!!!
Groovy: (Thoughtfully) Well...
EVoD: NO! You can't let that poor innocent little 7 year-old use that scrubby pad. It's coarse and rough and abrasive. It will take the skin off her sweet little fingers. What kind of mother would do that to a child?
Groovy: (Hopefully) She could wear gloves!
EVoD: You KNOW you don't have any gloves small enough. Get to work. NOW.
Groovy: Honey, you need gloves to use such a powerful scrubby. I will put rubber gloves on the list for you.
Silly-Head: I WANT RUBBER GLOVES TOO!!!
Groovy: Rubber gloves for everyone. Now, go play so I can finish this da-, um, stupid floor before supper time.
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1 Hour Later
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Groovy: (Limping to put away her cleaning supplies. All this hard work has aggravated her biking injury.) There. DONE!
EVoD: Done, are you? Look at that floor! Now there are streaks of actual white in all those spots where you scrubbed so hard. Those are the only places on the floor that are truly clean. It looks horrid! Now everyone will know that you are too lazy to actually really clean the WHOLE floor and get it white, like it's supposed to be.
Groovy: (Guilted/Tempted) That scrubby really did get those spots clean...
EVoD: And...
Groovy: (Eyes starting to glaze over) And I do have a group of women coming over on Monday to learn to bake bread...
EVoD: Think how impressed they'd be. "Oooo, Groovy can bake bread AND keep her floor shockingly white!"
Groovy: (Swaying dizzily) Must...Scrub...Floor...
EVoD: Bwa-ha-ha-ha!
Groovy: (Limping back toward the cleaning supplies, she suddenly stops short.) Hey, wait a minute. I think I remember you...
EVoD: Get back to work you slovenly housekeeper!
Groovy: Yeeeees, NO! You were the voice in the other house - the other house that had a white floor!
EVoD: (Gulp)
Groovy: You were the one who convinced me to waste a whole day -a WHOLE DAY - that I had to myself and use it to scrub THAT floor white, White, WHITE. (Trembling with rage) And what good did it do me? WHAT GOOD DID IT DO ME?!!!
EVoD: Well, you DID get to listen to whole series of Joyce Meyer tapes...
Groovy: Meyers, Smeyers! You duped me into using a whole precious day of my life to scrub a floor that no one else noticed and that got dirty again within a few days.
EVoD: Nooooo, (Smiles hopefully. Well, she sounds like she smiles hopefully) I'm just trying to help you be a good homemaker...
Groovy: I'm not falling for that trick again. Out, OUT thou foul fiend!
EVoD: (Making strange gurgling noises as she disappears)
Groovy: Hey Girls! Let's read some library books and play some board games, I am DONE with this floor! | | |
| 12 Ways to Love Your Wayward Child
From John Piper
My son Abraham, who speaks from the wisdom of experience and Scripture, has written the article that follows. I read it with tears and laughter. It is so compelling that I asked him immediately if I could share it with the church and the wider Christian community. There is no greater joy than to see your children walking in the truth—and expressing it so well. The rest is Abraham’s untouched. -John Piper
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By Abraham Piper - May 9, 2007
Many parents are brokenhearted and completely baffled by their unbelieving son or daughter. They have no clue why the child they raised well is making such awful, destructive decisions. I’ve never been one of these parents, but I have been one of these sons. Reflecting back on that experience, I offer these suggestions to help you reach out to your wayward child.
1. Point them to Christ.
Your rebellious child’s real problem is not drugs or sex or cigarettes or pornography or laziness or crime or cussing or slovenliness or homosexuality or being in a punk rock band. The real problem is that they don’t see Jesus clearly. The best thing you can do for them—and the only reason to do any of the following suggestions—is to show them Christ. It is not a simple or immediate process, but the sins in their life that distress you and destroy them will only begin to fade away when they see Jesus more like he actually is.
2. Pray.
Only God can save your son or daughter, so keep on asking that he will display himself to them in a way they can’t resist worshiping him for.
3. Acknowledge that something is wrong.
If your daughter rejects Jesus, don’t pretend everything is fine.
For every unbelieving child, the details will be different. Each one will require parents to reach out in unique ways. Never acceptable, however, is not reaching out at all. If your child is an unbeliever, don’t ignore it. Holidays might be easier, but eternity won’t be.
4. Don’t expect them to be Christ-like.
If your son is not a Christian, he’s not going to act like one.
You know that he has forsaken the faith, so don’t expect him to live by the standards you raised him with. For example, you might be tempted to say, “I know you’re struggling with believing in Jesus, but can’t you at least admit that getting wasted every day is sin?”
If he’s struggling to believe in Jesus, then there is very little significance in admitting that drunkenness is wrong. You want to protect him, yes. But his unbelief is the most dangerous problem—not partying. No matter how your child’s unbelief exemplifies itself in his behavior, always be sure to focus more on the heart’s sickness than its symptoms.
5. Welcome them home.
Because the deepest concern is not your child’s actions, but his heart, don’t create too many requirements for coming home. If he has any inkling to be with you, it is God giving you a chance to love him back to Jesus. Obviously there are some instances in which parents must give ultimatums: “Don’t come to this house if you are...” But these will be rare. Don’t lessen the likelihood of an opportunity to be with your child by too many rules.
If your daughter smells like weed or an ashtray, spray her jacket with Febreze and change the sheets when she leaves, but let her come home. If you find out she’s pregnant, then buy her folic acid, take her to her twenty-week ultrasound, protect her from Planned Parenthood, and by all means let her come home. If your son is broke because he spent all the money you lent him on loose women and ritzy liquor, then forgive his debt as you’ve been forgiven, don’t give him any more money, and let him come home. If he hasn’t been around for a week and a half because he’s been staying at his girlfriend’s—or boyfriend’s—apartment, plead with him not to go back, and let him come home.
6. Plead with them more than you rebuke them.
Be gentle in your disappointment.
What really concerns you is that your child is destroying herself, not that she’s breaking rules. Treat her in a way that makes this clear. She probably knows—especially if she was raised as a Christian—that what she’s doing is wrong. And she definitely knows you think it is. So she doesn’t need this pointed out. She needs to see how you are going to react to her evil. Your gentle forbearance and sorrowful hope will show her that you really do trust Jesus.
Her conscience can condemn her by itself. Parents ought to stand kindly and firmly, always living in the hope that they want their child to return to.
7. Connect them to believers who have better access to them.
There are two kinds of access that you may not have to your child: geographical and relational. If your wayward son lives far away, try to find a solid believer in his area and ask him to contact your son. This may seem nosy or stupid or embarrassing to him, but it’s worth it—especially if the believer you find can also relate to your son emotionally in a way you can’t.
Relational distance will also be a side effect of your child leaving the faith, so your relationship will be tenuous and should be protected if at all possible. But hard rebuke is still necessary.
This is where another believer who has emotional access to your son may be very helpful. If there is a believer who your son trusts and perhaps even enjoys being around, then that believer has a platform to tell your son—in a way he may actually pay attention to—that he’s being an idiot. This may sound harsh, but it’s a news flash we all need from time to time, and people we trust are usually the only ones who can package a painful rebuke so that it is a gift to us.
A lot of rebellious kids would do well to hear that they’re being fools—and it is rare that this can helpfully be pointed out by their parents—so try to keep other Christians in your kids lives.
8. Respect their friends.
Honor your wayward child in the same way you’d honor any other unbeliever. They may run with crowds you’d never consider talking to or even looking at, but they are your child’s friends. Respect that—even if the relationship is founded on sin. They’re bad for your son, yes. But he’s bad for them, too. Nothing will be solved by making it perfectly evident that you don’t like who he’s hanging around with.
When your son shows up for a family birthday celebration with another girlfriend—one you’ve never seen before and probably won’t see again—be hospitable. She’s also someone’s wayward child, and she needs Jesus, too.
9. Email them.
Praise God for technology that lets you stay in your kids’ lives so easily!
When you read something in the Bible that encourages you and helps you love Jesus more, write it up in a couple lines and send it to your child. The best exhortation for them is positive examples of Christ’s joy in your own life.
Don’t stress out when you’re composing these as if each one needs to be singularly powerful. Just whip them out one after another, and let the cumulative effect of your satisfaction in God gather up in your child’s inbox. God’s word is never proclaimed in vain.
10. Take them to lunch.
If possible, don’t let your only interaction with your child be electronic. Get together with him face to face if you can. You may think this is stressful and uncomfortable, but trust me that it’s far worse to be in the child’s shoes—he is experiencing all the same discomfort, but compounded by guilt. So if he is willing to get together with you for lunch, praise God, and use the opportunity.
It will feel almost hypocritical to talk about his daily life, since what you really care about is his eternal life, but try to anyway. He needs to know you care about all of him. Then, before lunch is over, pray that the Lord will give you the gumption to ask about his soul. You don’t know how he’ll respond. Will he roll his eyes like you’re an idiot? Will he get mad and leave? Or has God been working in him since you talked last? You don’t know until you risk asking.
(Here’s a note to parents of younger children: Set up regular times to go out to eat with your kids. Not only will this be valuable for its own sake, but also, if they ever enter a season of rebellion, the tradition of meeting with them will already be in place and it won’t feel weird to ask them out to lunch. If a son has been eating out on Saturdays with his dad since he was a tot, it will be much harder for him later in life to say no to his father’s invitation—even as a surly nineteen-year-old.)
11. Take an interest in their pursuits.
Odds are that if your daughter is purposefully rejecting Christ, then the way she spends her time will probably disappoint you. Nevertheless, find the value in her interests, if possible, and encourage her. You went to her school plays and soccer games when she was ten; what can you do now that she’s twenty to show that you still really care about her interests?
Jesus spent time with tax collectors and prostitutes, and he wasn’t even related to them. Imitate Christ by being the kind of parent who will put some earplugs in your pocket and head downtown to that dank little nightclub where your daughter’s CD release show is. Encourage her and never stop praying that she will begin to use her gifts for Jesus’ glory instead her own.
12. Point them to Christ.
This can’t be over-stressed. It is the whole point. No strategy for reaching your son or daughter will have any lasting effect if the underlying goal isn’t to help them know Jesus.
Jesus.
It’s not so that they will be good kids again; it’s not so that they’ll get their hair cut and start taking showers; it’s not so that they’ll like classical music instead of deathcore; it’s not so that you can stop being embarrassed at your weekly Bible study; it’s not so that they’ll vote conservative again by the next election; it’s not even so that you can sleep at night, knowing they’re not going to hell.
The only ultimate reason to pray for them, welcome them, plead with them, email them, eat with them, or take an interest in their interests is so that their eyes will be opened to Christ.
And not only is he the only point—he’s the only hope. When they see the wonder of Jesus, satisfaction will be redefined. He will replace the pathetic vanity of the money, or the praise of man, or the high, or the orgasm that they are staking their eternities on right now. Only his grace can draw them from their perilous pursuits and bind them safely to himself—captive, but satisfied.
He will do this for many. Be faithful and don’t give up.
© Desiring God
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you do not make more than 1,000 physical copies. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be explicitly approved by Desiring God.
Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.
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I Squidoo, Do You?
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