God nurtures His children with love

Anita was an attractive, loving, sociable person, always eager to please others. Everyone loved her. But she had a weakness. She remained passive no matter how she felt about any issue. She conformed to what others expected of her rather than confront them; she was unable to stand up for herself and vocalize what she actually felt and wanted. She needed to become more assertive in life. This was her area of struggle. Having grown up under a domineering father, she had not developed the ability to speak her own mind. The Bible teaches, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).We can exasperate our children by over-protection; fence them in, never trust them, never give them opportunity to develop independence, ridicule their decisions, and question their every choice. Good parenting does not deprive them of all freedom. One should not take away all their independence. They will not read that as love. They will not regard that as for their benefit. They will understand that as abusive control. Our children have been created in the image of God. They are under God’s special care. God has a plan for their lives and while you are to bring them to the knowledge of the love of God, you must allow them to express themselves little by little. Encourage them to think for themselves. Encourage them to make decisions. Allow them to feel some of the pain of a bad decision. Don’t over-protect them, you’ll strangle them and they’ll become insecure. Anita had to learn to be more assertive and speak up for herself and become comfortable with the conflict that surfaced when she did speak up. She had to grow out of the little girl who needed her father’s approval into a mature adult who could handle her husband being displeased with her. As parents we are not owners rather stewards of the gift of children; who have to be nurtured in love and not exasperated.