Quotes on Parenting and Motherhood

Just a few of some great quotes out of the book I am currently reading, "The Shaping of a Christian Family" by Elisabeth Elliot...


The process of shaping the child, ...shapes also the mother herself. Reverence for her sacred burden calls her to all that is pure and good that she may teach primarily by her own humble, daily example.
- Elisabeth Elliot - The Shaping of a Christian Family (how powerfully TRUE!)

Love means sacrifice. Each member of this family, in one way or another, has to learn to give in, give up and give over for the sake of the rest.
- Elisabeth Elliot - The Shaping of a Christian Family (I posted it on our fridge the day I read it! I have had the boys read it out loud to me on several occasions!)

My parents dedicated each of us to Him, recognizing their children not primarily as their offspring, much less as their possessions, but as souls entrusted to them to give back to God, confident of His power to guard and keep what they committed to His care.
- Elisabeth Elliot - The Shaping of a Christian Family (Each of our children are HIS, and God has specifically chosen us to model HIS love to each of them.)

Failure to carry through when something has been forbidden may not be called lying, but when a child knows he can wheedle his parents until they give in, he is being taught - "programmed" - not to trust their word. If a child asks why about something he has no business knowing and the parents fabricate a reason instead of straightforwardly tellin him he does not need an answer, they are instructing him to fabricate...Truthfulness is the foundation of faith.

My parents did not think it a good thing to explaing all of their reasons and actions to us when we were small. It is an unnecessary waste of time, for one thing, for the reasoning rarely satisfies the child anyway, but more importantly, it makes it difficult later on for the child to accept what God says without explanation. He must learn to trust the person, to believe the word, and to let the matter rest there, even when reasons are hidden, a hard but vital lesson for the rest of his life.
- Elisabeth Elliot - The Shaping of the Christian Family
(Whoa! How our parenting choices can affect them for all eternity! Help us and teach us, Lord! The next quote also demonstrates this Truth...)

Parents, expressing love for their children by physical warmth and tenderness, greatly contribute to their children's later comprehension of Refuge, Strength, and Helper as attributes of God. The parent's faith in His perfect love and perct sovereignty lays the foundation of the home in which the child is growing up. Their object for him is happiness and fulfilment, exactly what God wants for us, according to His "hidden wisdom, his secret purpose framed from the beginning to bring us to our full glory...'Things beyond our seeing, things beyond our hearing, things beyond our imagining, all prepared by God for those who love him." (1 Cor. 2:7,9)
- Elisabeth Eliott - The Shaping of A Christian Family
(What an honor to reflect God to our children in this way!)