Fearful Fertilizer to Fruitfulness

[S] Psalm 128:3-4 --
3 Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine Within your house, Your children like olive plants Around your table.4 Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed Who fears the LORD.

[O] I don't know the exact symbolism of the vine and the olive plants, but what I gather from the context is the sense of fruitfulness when a family fears the LORD.  In many ways than not, my focus (or purpose) of living out my life gets fuzzy with so much going on that I actually forget about how critical it is for me to lead my family to bear fruits of life and in a figure of speech, how I need to make sure my family members' lives are fertilized, watered, and pruned for them to be fruitful in and out of season.  This passage gives me a picture of abundance overflowing and that's the prototype family I'd like to help lead into as a husband and father.

[A] Calibrate my purpose of living such that my family will be prepared and nurtured to be fruitful in God's eyes.  We must stay humble and fear God at all times.  I need to learn how to prune out non-essential items from my schedule so I can dedicate my time to the most essential items.

[P] Dear God, please teach me to fear You at all times as the forerunner in my family so the rest of my family may follow me; even though asking this could boost my ego, I want to stay humble and pure of following after Your heart.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

A Parenting Model to Follow

[S] Esther 2:7,20 --
 ⁷He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. 
 ²⁰Esther had not yet made known her kindred or her people, even as Mordecai had commanded her; for Esther did what Mordecai told her as she had done when under his care.  

[O] Mordecai was Esther's cousin who had the compassion to take her as his own daughter after her parents passed away.  This is such a beautiful picture of family standing up for each other in unity.  Not only did Mordecai brought up an orphaned cousin but he did it in such a way that created such a strong bond and respect that we can see in verse 20 about how Esther submitted to Mordecai's leadership in her life.  Through such a strong and edifying relationship, God works His amazing miracle of saving His people.

One of the areas my mind is very much focused on these days is about parenting my teenagers about how I can shepherd their hearts in such a way for us to establish a strong bonded and respectful relationship that God will work through.  So this story struck a chord in my heart as I was reading through.

[A] If an older cousin can bring up a younger cousin to fear God and to collaborate in executing God's redemptive plan, then I should have great hope with my own children God has granted in my family to achieve something awesomely wonderful in Him.  It's this waiting on Him with hope in Him that I need to do more than worrying about how to train them or deal with their growing phases.

[P] Father in Heaven, You have uplifted my spirit with this insight of Mordecai and Esther's relationship.  I praise You for boosting my perspective as a father of my children.  I will focus on raising my children by instilling in them the Hope that I find in You.  Thank You and pray in Your name.  Amen.

Tangible Before Intangible

[S] 1 Timothy 3:5 --
  ⁵(but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?)

[O] We serve a God who is not physical tangible but dwells in us spiritually and thus when we talk about serving Him, it can easily become theoretical and idealistic.  There is nothing wrong with that but if we only dwell on the theory of serving God then that could pose a problem because we will never apply into our lives to bring the results we desire in the first place based on the theory itself.  Now, that's pretty theoretical isn't it?  Well, digging deeper into this verse, I am quite challenged to live out my life as a husband and a father at my home foremost according to the principles God wrote out for me in the Bible.  Unless I can apply these at home, how will I be taking care of areas in my home church regardless of what I do?  Even if I could write books on how to be a godly husband and father, I must live it out myself to reflect the principles.

[A] As I read this passage, I am convicted to shift my fulcrum toward my family so that I may dedicate more of my thoughts and energy for my wife and children especially during this summer break for my children.  This will naturally translate into spending more time with them, but it must start with spending more of my heart to prepare and plan to spend that quality time with them.  I've been pre-occupied with organizing and leading the small group efforts for last 10 months and while I must continue to run that race, I have to balance my dedication to my own family just like how Paul explained in verse 5.

[P] Dear God, please continue to train me so I may apply Your wonderful principles into my life by migrating it 12 inches from my brain to my heart especially in the area of my family.  May Your name be lifted up in my family and may I be the one leading them by caring for them diligently.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.