AW Book Club: For the Children's Sake, Ch 2.



I started an informal Book Club in the Facebook Group and we've been reading For the Children's Sake by Sonya Schaeffer Macaulay. This last week was Chapter 2 & this upcoming week we'll be reading Chapter 3 and taking a moment to share our notes and discuss a bit.

I admit the group is still rather small so conversation is light, I hope we can grow it into a beautiful conversational spot though.

I thought I might take a moment each week to post about my notes and my take away on what I'm reading. Sort of a written narration, so to speak.

This weeks reading was a bit confusing because I somehow managed to skip the end of chapter 2 and read almost to the end of chapter 3, then realized my mishap and tried to go back and read the missed parts which kind of left me with confusing notes. So, there's that.

Chapter 2, Children are Born Persons

Basic thought -- Children are not ours to mold. We are to provide them with the habits (faithfulness/consistency), the living books & ideas, time and space (letting alone), and expectations set based on the individuality of the child. The authority was given to us by God, but we live under the same rules. 

The child is a person who needs to grow in knowledge. We only have some of that knowledge having been on earth longer and have lived and learned -- also as Christians we have the added knowledge of the word of God. 

-- Something I wholeheartedly agreed with, but made me sad was this small part where she says, "Many adults now "have" a child, in the same way that they "have" a washing machine... "

Some words came to mind when I thought about this, children being born as an accessory or an object to further ourselves. 

1. Possession 
2. Power
3. Use
4. Ownership

How can I treat my children with the respect as a person to not ever think of them in an objective manner? To make sure that my end goal is always to help them discover who God made them and what place in life he created them to be? 

What sort of a person is it whom we are holding? As a baby this child already is formed perfectly for the person God designed them to be. I often do wonder at my babies in excitement to discover the same time as they do, who they are. 

-- Another small tidbit that gave me pause, "...bored by the sawdust-like religious slogans." Because I have felt inundated by those types of words myself throughout my lifetime and it has, at points, taken the living parts of the bible and drown them out. It is easy to make a "meme" out of biblical precepts and completely miss the life, joy, and gift in the whole meaning vs. the small part we take it out of context to make it into what we wish. And therefore it's like a branch pruned from a tree. 

"We can only love and serve him and be his friend. We cannot own him. He is not ours."

As I read this I, for some reason, felt odd to myself that I had never thought specifically about my calling to serve my children individually, as any other person God has put in my life. We are to be servants to each other. Why did I never think of them in that way? 

"...begin to clamor for an education which shall qualify their children for life rather than for earning a living." 

I desperately want an education for my children that will give to them the whole of their life. Not just something to equip them for 40 hours a week and a paycheck. I passionately desire for my children to find a place in this world that will fulfill their purpose and be able to support themselves & a family. 

"The more of a person we succeed in making a child, the better will he both fulfill his own life and serve society."

There's that serve word again. 

"His mind is the instrument of his education and that his education does not produce his mind."

I will end with this thought... it's such a good one. 

Have you read this wonderful book? What were some of your thoughts on it? 


God Bless,

Julie

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