Biblical Reasons for Teaching Your Children Manners

Welcome back!

“Mind your manners,” you may have heard the phrase uttered from you mother or grandmother a million times, but is it something that we as a society use today with our children? Manners seems to have gone by the way side much like other concepts that were so often used by those who have gone on before us.

We must get back to the basics of life and what is really important in life, especially back to our Biblical roots. The Bible teaches many of “life’s basics” one of which is manners. Surprised? Don’t be, God has a plan for every aspect of our lives, including manners. They after all were his idea in the first place. He set it forth beginning with the Golden Rule beginning in Matthew 7:12,

“Do to others what you would have them do to you.”

God also set forth instructions for us as parents about how we are to train our children, these scriptures include Proverbs 22:6, which says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” We must do our part as parents and then leave the rest to God. However our part comes first. He commanded us in Deuteronomy that we were to model the actions that we wanted our child to have.

“Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you-they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.” Deuteronomy 32:46-47

This is living by the book, God’s Word, following his laws and precepts and teaching our children to do the same. As we often say to others, “it begins at home”. We must being by teaching our children the basic manners of “please” and “thank you” and expand into more social concepts such as, dining etiquette and social introductions.

What is in your heart comes out in your actions. We have Jesus in our hearts and we want to show others him by our actions. This is where manners can be of much importance. However, not only does this learning of manners do wonders for other people who are around your child, but also for their own self esteem and confidence as well. After all, with Christ in our childrens’ hearts and lives they can have all the confidence they need and when they present themselves as Godly and respectful individuals to others they can shine brightly. What mother wouldn’t be proud of that?

Wish you had the opportunity to teach manners to the children of today?  There is an awesome opportunity for Christian women over at Become a Manner’s Mentor that will allow you to do just that.  What an opportunity to invest in children.

Come Forth As Gold

I am struggling with a situation in my life right now and this morning I am reminded through Scripture that others have endured such trials. God lead me to Job this morning. Job faced many trials and his prayer was that he come forth as gold.

“But he knows the way that I take when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” Job 23:10

If Job can endure the trials God put him through, then so can I. I just wanted to share today that I live my life in an effort to be Holy, but not holy in a sense of being “holier than thou”, but Holy in a sense of being as the Bible says,

“For it is written. “Be holy, as I am holy”.” 1 Peter 1:16

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

I will not make excuses for attempting to live a holy life.  Also, I don’t believe we are suppose to hide from everything.  You cannot live life with your head buried in the sand.  You’ve got to face life’s issues.  You’ve got to take a stand.  What are your thoughts?

*Verses were copied from BibleGateway.com

My Office Makeover

Back in May I believe it was I got the brilliant idea to transform what was my daughter’s room into my “office”.  Having wanted an office for years this was exciting for me.  Yes, my daughter is 3 and she still needed a space to sleep but the reality was, she wasn’t sleeping in her room, she wasn’t even really “playing” in her room.  Her room stayed a mess of clean clothes piled on the bed and her toys strewn from here to there.

When I decided to take the room as my office we moved her twin bed into our son’s room and since that very night all three of my children have slept in their “room”. It has been amazing really.  Now, we’re in the process of closing in the garage we currently have to create the boys (ages 6 and 2) a room together and my daughter will get the room they currently share for her very own while momma gets to keep her office.

My daughter’s room was a very faint shade of pink, which I didn’t mind so I decided to work with it and add touches of black and white to “accent”  Here are the before and after shots:

You can click on the thumbnails to see the before and after. I added the black butterfly decals over the big window. I painted my desk black and purchased a new black desk chair. I added a black and white snapshot of each of my three children over my desk.

There is much I’d love to do. We’re hoping to replace the hideous carpet with vinyl when we do the work to our house and I hope to get a beautiful rug instead. What’s your home office like if you have one?

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