Saturday, April 4, 2009

Get Ready For the Floods (Part 1)

I'm not convinced that I am finally going to get that water front property that the environmentalists are promising, but I do know that floods and storms are coming!

Do you remember the story of the wise man and the foolish man? The foolish man built his house on the sand and the wise man built his on a rock. Well, the rains came down and the floods came up (the story didn't say anything about polar icecaps melting, but I guess that it could have been a possibility). What happened to the the two houses? One washed away and one STAYED STRONG! The difference: A FIRM FOUNDATION.

Are you prepared for the storms and floods of life? Can your family stay strong when things get tough?

What do I mean by storms and floods?

These floods are not going to rise up due to your refusal to drive a solar powered car. These storms come in the form of sickness, loss of jobs, financial troubles, a wayward child, debt, death, disappointment, or addiction. Sometimes the the storms are literal. Look at Hurricane Katrina and the major stress that it brought.

How do you build a strong foundation for your family? Here is a start:

1. Define or develop core beliefs and values in yourself: What do you believe? Do you believe in God? Do you want to? What is important to you? What characteristics do you want to develop? What is your rock? Is it strong and immovable? These questions may be hard to answer for some and for others it may be really easy. It is so important to have a firm foundation as a parent. Children look to you for answers. You are building the foundation for your family. Is it sand or rock?

2. Teach values to kids with love: This is pretty self explanatory, but takes effort and patience. If you are religious, teach them to pray, read scriptures and help them know that they are children of God. Talk to your kids about the consequences of lying, substance abuse, immorality, stealing, cheating, disrespecting you, others or property. Teach them the value of hard work, serving others, honesty, dressing and acting modestly and the importance of getting a good education. Let them know what you expect from them and why. They won't learn right from wrong unless you teach them. Don't let trends, teachers, celebrities, magazines, t.v. shows or friends set your child's values. Never a good idea!

3. Practice living values daily: Stay consistent in your family prayers, scriptures and family hour. Look for opportunities to teach and reinforce the values you have taught. If they need to be disciplined, do it with love and talk to them about why they were punished. Never give up or give in.

4. Be a good example of the values you represent: Your kids are watching you! Be honest, be prayerful, use good language, be respectful of others and respect yourself. Your true colors come out when you are stressed or surprised. Believe me. I know! I've never been more challenged in my life before becoming a parent. I'll give you lots of examples in the posts to come. :)

I'm getting a little long winded and I don't want to lose you, so I'm going to post the conclusion in a day or two.

So, be sure to check back, subscribe or follow this blog so you don't miss a post!

Stumble Upon Toolbar

2 comments:

  1. I am new here! What a great blog :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Melody,

    Sorry for contacting you through your comments section but I couldn't find an email address on your blog. We found your blog and thought you would enjoy our new website www.MommyGiggles.com.

    Mommy Giggles is a site where moms submit funny pictures to share with other moms to get a giggle out of. They can either be pictures of their kids or of other hilarious “mommy moments”

    We are contacting you to see if you have a funny picture that we could post – we would of course give you the credit, and also post your blog (if you want). There is also a $25 Amazon Gift card drawing to everyone who submits a photo each month.

    We also would appreciate if you could spread the word about our site to other moms too!

    We hope you will get a “giggle” out of our site.

    Warmest Regards,

    Heather Matthews & Heidi Werry

    Like Us On Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mommy-Giggles/180580521989697
    Follow Us On Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/MommiGiggles

    ReplyDelete