If you know me personally you’re probably shocked to see the plural form of “children” in the title. Although I constantly protest having more children after a rather rough pregnancy with Raelynn, reality is God-willing Shawn and I will likely have another baby one day.
It’s funny because before Raelynn I often thought about what it would be like to have one child and even with her being here now, I wonder about our other future (non existent lol) baby(ies). I wonder about what kind of friends they’ll make, what genre of movies will be their favorite and even what kind of talents they’ll develop.
More importantly though I wonder about what lessons and habits will they take away from Shawn and I and cling to well into their adulthood.
There are a ton of things I want to teach them, the more obvious (and most important) lesson I want to follow them is how to have a relationship with God but there are handful of other things I pray will stay on their hearts.
Be Kind
Giving is something Shawn and I talk about almost daily. One of our main “why’s” is because there are so many things (and people) we want to be resourceful for and pour into. Matthew 25:35-40 is often on the forefront of my mind and so near and dear to my heart. What better way to serve God than to serve His people. Give to His people. He’s done so much in our lives for us to not want to serve Him and love on His people. At an early age I plan on teaching Raelynn what it means to give your best to others. For now I’m thinking about possibly taking her with us to pick out a toy for an Angel Tree child (around her age) at Christmas time. Although I haven’t 100% decided what this will look like year round so if you have any other suggestions please share them!
Be Confident
This is something I’m still mastering myself and but I’m determined to have this down soon. I want Raelynn (and future children) to know that confidence does not equal perfection. You can walk and flow in things boldly without being fearful of messing up. Fear honestly shouldn’t even be in our vocabulary. As 2 Timothy 1:7 states, God didn’t give us the spirit of fear but of love, power and a sound mind. I want them to know that because of this, any fear that arises is the enemy trying to stop them in their tracks because he knows all the great things they can (will) accomplish! So as they cling to Christ, through Holy Spirit they’ll be able to have peace and understanding of how to walk confidently in anything that is of Him.
Be Bold
Raelynn is 6 months shy of 2 years old so as expected we’ve been working through tons of tantrums on a daily. Through the tantrums though I’ve been trying to work on teaching her how to express her thoughts and emotions because I want her to grow into a woman that will unapologetically use her voice to express herself. I want all of our children to not only be able to effectively communicate with people (at even a young age) but to mostly know how to be an example for other believers in what they say (1 Timothy 4:12)!
Having Raelynn has already taught me so much. There’s so much I’m trying to instill in her but I know in order to instill it in her I have to be living it out myself. So needless to say, having her has made me a better person already and I know any other little ones we have in the future will make me even stronger.
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children[a] of one’s youth. Psalm 127: 3-4
xo.
Michelle
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