Sacred Parenting Seminar

George and I just finished attending a two day Sacred Parenting seminar through River Valley Church by author Gary Thomas. It was not a "how to" class but more of a philisophical viewpoint with sound scripture as the cornerstone. The first night was especially emotional for me as we talked about how to model gentleness with our kids. This is such a hard concept for me to understand and MODEL; I equate gentleness with weakness of character. This is a learned concept from my youth, but after hearing this seminar, it really made me look at things differently. This author pointed out through various scripture that gentleness is an attribute of God. This is not to be confused with letting your children "run" the household or not setting consequences for bad choices. It is just adopting a manner of gentleness or a manner of the messiah in order to get your message accross to your children. Consequences and method of discipline can still be strict but the WAY we communicate these consequences should be modeled after Christ. This will and has been a good lesson for me to learn. I was always just concerned with the Method (how) and the Message but never concerned myself with the Manner of what I would say to Ashley when she was growing up. It makes me sad to know that I failed miserably in this area. However, this is still something I can begin to apply with Ashley during conversations of disagreement. Hopefully Ava will be able to glean the benefit from this approach also. We are always a work in process and I pray that God will continue to conform me to his likeness. The second night of the seminar had to do with fears and limitations of parenthood. There are many parents that manage their children and households out of fear and guilt. The author's point was that this is very damaging to not only our children, but to ourselves. Especially in the United States this has become the prevalent trend. American's tend to coddle and overprotect (out of fear and guilt) our children from disappointment, pain, adversity, conflict, etc. and therefore raise children that lack a strong character and do not have the skills/tools needed in life to be emotionally healthy adults. This second night of teaching was a confirmation of what George and I see on a weekly basis around us. Even our local school systems have bought into this way of thinking and teaching. The question we should be asking is what is more important, Comfort or Character? I know George and I would not be the people we are today, had we been raised under this new "trend." Let's hope that as with all "trends," they tend to fade away. I would highly recommend this author as a speaker and he is going to be doing a Sacred Marriage seminar the first week of May at another local church. For more information, visit Gary's website at www.garythomas.com