The deeper we get into this ministry, the more we realize one thing; that people desperately need to be loved, especially by their parents. Over and over again, those whom we are counseling tell us how much they long to hear words or see an act that show them that their parents love them. And some of them are crying out for attention with their actions, even if it's negative attention, just to get a reaction from their parents even though they are now adults. The horribly sad thing is, they get no reaction and their despair and pain propel them deeper into the vice that they're in.
Fathers, you have no idea how much you impact your children; whether it is by your absence or your presence. Your absence, whether literal or in the form of apathy, kills the tender hearts of your children. Being a father is not just about donating sperm and then ignoring the offspring thereof with the excuse, " I have no time for you because I have to work to provide for you". Your children need you to love them, to protect them, to teach them values and morals, to hear you say that you love them and are proud of them, that they are priceless and to see you live out the actions of your words to them. Look around you, look into the faces of your children and see the emptiness and waning hope in their eyes waiting, waiting for you to just tell them that you love them and to spend time with them. Raising children isn't just about providing for their material needs. They need you emotionally and spiritually. Your children are not puppies that can be thrown out on the streets with the expectation that they can raise themselves, teach themselves morals and values and survive without being watered and fertilized by your love.
Mothers, so many of you have been so hurt by the men in your life but please, please don't bring that hurt and pain into your children's lives by ignoring them and passing on what you had received to them. Show them love, protect them from those who would abuse them and please, please treasure, value and respect yourselves so that your children will learn to do that as well. Don't believe the lie that you are not able to live without a man in your life and seek only to link yourself at whatever cost to any man that you believe you can get and thereby place your children's lives at risk. Respect and value yourselves so that your children will learn to value and respect themselves. Spend time with them, learn to talk and listen to them so that they will tell you their fears and hopes. Fan into flame their dreams so that they can see that they have a hope and a future.
Build a home on the solid rock of Christ and walk in the role that God has given you; to be responsible guardians of your children so that they will know love, security and companionship within the home and not feel the need to look for it in the streets, with those who would seek to harm them. In your hands you hold the future. Guard and treasure it well.
You influence your children more than you think you do.
"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." - Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, you have no idea how much you impact your children; whether it is by your absence or your presence. Your absence, whether literal or in the form of apathy, kills the tender hearts of your children. Being a father is not just about donating sperm and then ignoring the offspring thereof with the excuse, " I have no time for you because I have to work to provide for you". Your children need you to love them, to protect them, to teach them values and morals, to hear you say that you love them and are proud of them, that they are priceless and to see you live out the actions of your words to them. Look around you, look into the faces of your children and see the emptiness and waning hope in their eyes waiting, waiting for you to just tell them that you love them and to spend time with them. Raising children isn't just about providing for their material needs. They need you emotionally and spiritually. Your children are not puppies that can be thrown out on the streets with the expectation that they can raise themselves, teach themselves morals and values and survive without being watered and fertilized by your love.
Mothers, so many of you have been so hurt by the men in your life but please, please don't bring that hurt and pain into your children's lives by ignoring them and passing on what you had received to them. Show them love, protect them from those who would abuse them and please, please treasure, value and respect yourselves so that your children will learn to do that as well. Don't believe the lie that you are not able to live without a man in your life and seek only to link yourself at whatever cost to any man that you believe you can get and thereby place your children's lives at risk. Respect and value yourselves so that your children will learn to value and respect themselves. Spend time with them, learn to talk and listen to them so that they will tell you their fears and hopes. Fan into flame their dreams so that they can see that they have a hope and a future.
Build a home on the solid rock of Christ and walk in the role that God has given you; to be responsible guardians of your children so that they will know love, security and companionship within the home and not feel the need to look for it in the streets, with those who would seek to harm them. In your hands you hold the future. Guard and treasure it well.
You influence your children more than you think you do.
"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." - Ephesians 6:4
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