It Starts with Us

The 1st Key to being a Spiritual Parent is taking care of your own spiritual development.  We can't give what we don't have. 

We’ve all heard the stories of champions throughout time who seem to have something special that others in their prospective fields do not.  Michael Jordan had prodigious physical gifts. But as his long time coach Phil Jackson writes, it was hard work that made him a legend. When Jordan first entered the league, his jump shot wasn't good enough. He spent his off season taking hundreds of jumpers a day until it was perfect.  Jackson said that Jordan's defining characteristic wasn't his talent, but having the humility to know he had to work constantly to be the best.

Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers: The Story of Success, says, “Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard for twenty-two minutes to make sense of something that most people would give up on after thirty seconds.”

In other words,  you don’t become a Christian one day and become a spiritual giant the next.  If you are serious about being the spiritual leader of your home, it starts with your character, your personal development. You must take a look at your life and determine whether or not your life and your faith are worth modeling.  I understand that you may feel that you have not “arrived” spiritually. Or that you are not quite ready to model your faith.  Remember, spiritual formation is a slow climb uphill to become the person you were created to be.  Many parents use the fact that they are not “spiritual” enough or “deep” enough to lead their children.  But, it’s important to understand that their are no perfect people and certainly no perfect families!  We all are a picture of redemption.  We are all broken people striving everyday to allow God to redeem and restore us into His original design.   

Maybe you've heard this saying before, "God is much more concerned about where we’re going than where we've been."  Thank you Lord for that!  The truth is, God will lead us and promises to walk with us as we allow Him to speak to us and guide us.  It is not required that we look, think, or act perfectly.  It is required that we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us and shape us into becoming more like Jesus. We can't wait until we feel "spiritual" enough to jump in and start leading our families.  We need to start now, begin spending time with the Lord daily, and see what God does!

I have two questions for you to think about that will be on the monthly evaluation; 

1. Who have you invited to be on your Spiritual Development Team?  Do they know they are on it? Are you meeting regularly? Are you honest with them? Are you doing what they are asking you to do? Is this a priority on your schedule?

2. Are you practicing the Disciplines? Are you spending time in the Word? Are you creating space for worship and solitude? Are you creating a spirit of submission and service? Read Richard Foster's book, The Celebration of Disciplines. Better yet, Read it with someone from your Spiritual Development Team!