Day 20

Scripture focus: Bind them [God’s commands] on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 7:3 NIV

Clearly, the most obvious commandment of all is to love God and others (as we love ourselves). (The assumption in this statement is that we do, in fact, love ourselves. The presumption is that we know how to love ourselves – appropriate self-care – in a healthy way.)

My closest friends, those who co-parented with Pete and I, are getting old. It is with this experiential background that I can say to you with complete confidence – I agree with Scott when he said, “One struggle I find in applying these passages on wisdom pertains to the fact that I am not always aware of the wisest action in a given situation. Scripture consistently preaches the importance of staying wise, keeping one’s head, but that, like many things, is easier said than done.”

Loving our children, amazingly enough, is easier said than done.

This is true in every family. No one is immune. Norman Rockwell’s beautiful depictions of the perfect family are fiction, works of art. My friend the artist has tutored me on the life of an artist. She paints over imperfections. She starts a canvas and sometimes covers up her first, second and twelfth attempts. As families, we do not have this luxury. I cannot learn my lessons as a parent and then turn back the clock and start over with my children.

Blessings upon blessings, it has been in the field of study of the addicted family system that we have had the most opportunity to learn from our mistakes. Isn’t this amazing? I love how God works!

The remainder of the month will be a peek into the kinds of kids that addicted families are prone to create (with the blessed underlying assumption that God’s grace is more than sufficient to overcome our human limitations).

Click on the word comments below and join our conversation!© Copyright 2010 NorthStar Community

---