Life on Planet Earth on Controlling Your Children

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Getting Your Deepest Desire Isn’t Always a Good Thing

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My wife and I once knew a single woman, Anna, who wanted desperately to have children. She eventually married, and contrary to the expectations of her doctors, was able to bear two healthy children de...

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Author

Thomas à Kempis

Keywords

Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.

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Losing Control In a Waffle House Hat

Author

Ryan P. Tinetti

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In his book Scream-Free Parenting , family therapist Hal Runkel recounts a visit to the Waffle House with his family that went horribly awry. It was a Saturday morning and the place was busy beyo...

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Fostering Shame in a Little Girl

Author

Sandra D. Wilson

Keywords

I was standing in line in a crowded public rest room engaged in one of my favorite hobbies, people watching, when I observed a brief interaction between a mother and daughter. Mother looked harried an...

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A Surprise Performance

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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Scripture

Exodus 4:10-12, Isaiah 61:1-3 , Romans 8:28, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Psalm 40:2-3

One summer, the composer Edvard Grieg stayed at a small Norwegian hotel. A restless child also resided there, constantly annoying the guests by attempting to play the piano, producing nothing but disc...

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Peter Ustinov and the School Letter

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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Scripture

1 Samuel 16:6-13, Exodus 31:1-6 , 1 Corinthians 12:4-7, Romans 12:6-8, Psalm 126:2

Peter Ustinov, the British actor, director, and playwright, once received an indignant letter from the headmaster of his son’s school. The letter complained that his son frequently disrupted lessons b...

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Control Issues

Author

M. Robert Mulholland Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 16:9, Jeremiah 29:11, John 15:1-27, Proverbs 3:5-6, Galatians 2:20, Matthew 6:25-34

In their excellent book Invitation to a Journey , M. Robert Mulholland and Ruth Haley Barton describe the foundation of life as being spiritual in nature. This means we are constantly be “formed” s...

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The Center of Our Own World

Author

Paul David Tripp

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He may have been the hardest person I ever counseled. He was self-assured and controlling. He argued for the rightfulness of everything he had ever done. He acted like the victim when in fact he was t...

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The Man on the Subway

Author

Steven Covey

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Scripture

Romans 12:15, Proverbs 18:13, Luke 6:36-37, Colossians 3:12, Matthew 7:1-2, 1 Samuel 16:7

Best-Selling leadership author Stephen Covey tells the following story about an incident he experienced in the New York subway system, an experience that would radically alter his perception of what i...

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Author

Paul David Tripp

Keywords

If rules and regulations had the power to change the heart and life of your child, rescuing your child from himself and giving him a heart of submission and faith, Jesus would have never needed to com...

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Lord Jesus—the same yesterday, today

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Matthew 5:9, Ephesians 4:32, James 5:15-16, John 14:27, Psalm 34:18

Lord Jesus—the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, and the author of change, who’s constantly doing “a new thing,” which makes us sit up and take notice. We admit, we’d be more comfortable with a pred...

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Controlling the Cart

Author

Clay Scroggins

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 23:3, James 4:13-15, Isaiah 55:8-9, Psalm 127:1, Proverbs 16:9

One of my small joys in life is grocery shopping. Ever since our kids were old enough to sit up, they fawned over the grocery carts that looked like little cars. Those carts are to grocery shopping wh...

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Author

Denis Waitley

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The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.

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Prayer for Young Persons

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God our Father, you see your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world: Show them that your ways give more life than the ways of the world, and that following you is better than chasing a...

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Ownership Parenting vs. Ambassador Parenting

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Paul Tripp argues in Parenting that a common cause of dysfunction in families is that parents (often unconsciously) adopt a view he calls the “ownership view” of parenting. In effect, it is acting a...

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Heavenly Father, you have claimed us as

Author

Austin D. Hill

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Heavenly Father, you have claimed us as your own children. That claim last through our entire lives and even beyond. Like children, though, we don’t always listen to you. We think we know what’s best ...

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Parenting is Like an Airline Emergency

Author

Gary L. Thomas

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Dr. Kevin Leman once told me that parenting is like an airline emergency. Before takeoff, every plane passenger is instructed that if the oxygen masks come down, parents should put on their own masks ...

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Thoughts on “Let Go and Let God”

Author

Frederick Buechner

Keywords

Control

Scripture

1 Peter 5:7, Matthew 6:27, Psalm 46:10, Romans 15:13, Song of Solomon 2:11-13

If we want to turn in the direction of what is life giving, we are going to have to let go of Winter. “’Let go’ of the dark, which you wrap yourself in like a straitjacket, and let in the light. Stop ...

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Author

Nora Ephron

Keywords

When your children are teenagers, it’s important to have a dog so that someone in the house is happy to see you.

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Prayer for Families

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Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who who creates families for our belonging: We ask for your continual care for the homes in which your people live. Keep them from all bitterness, arrogance, and the...

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How we Deal with the Desert

Author

Bianca Juarez Olthoff

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 3:5-6, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Hosea 2:14, Isaiah 43:19, Psalm 63:1, Matthew 4:1, Deuteronomy 8:2

We all go through desert seasons and have the opportunity to determine how we will respond. The cyclical frustrations I faced in regard to my desire for control, fear, and the longing to feel chosen w...

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Author

Rebecca Pippert

Keywords

Control

Whatever controls us is our lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by acceptance. We do not control ourselves. We are controlled by the ...

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Author

Michel de Montaigne

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Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.

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Author

Paul David Tripp

Keywords

In times of struggle and failure, we need to do more than pronounce judgment on what's wrong and enforce punishment. We need to talk, discuss, question, evaluate, engage, and interact with our tee...

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Just Charge It!

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

I recently attended an event sponsored by Compassion International, the International Child Sponsorship Organization. The event was called “Stepping into My Shoes”. The purpose being to show children ...

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Author

Chuck Swindoll

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Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.

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Author

Andreas Kostenberger

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We learn from Jesus that we should not look down on children because they are not fully grown and hence are of lower social status than adults. Like Jesus, we should treat children with respect and di...

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6 Eye-Opening Statistics

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65 percent of parents, ages 25-34, believe they check their phone too much. (56% of kids agree.) 31 percent of parents say they don’t set a good example with mobile device usage. (22% of kids agree.)...

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How To Keep Your Kids From Talking All the Time (Unfortunately, Through Lying)

Author

Steve May

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 10:19, James 1:19, Matthew 12:36, Colossians 4:6, Amos 5:13, 1 Samuel 3:

My friend Joi told me that when she was growing up, her parents invented a ploy to keep her from talking all of the time. They told her that people are allowed only so many words in one lifetime, and ...

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Father, as adults, we can fool

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Lamentations 3:22-23, Psalm 136:1, Matthew 19:13-15, 1 John 4:9-10, Mark 10:21, Proverbs 3:5-6, John 15:5, Psalm 121:1-2

Father, as adults, we can fool ourselves into being quite self-sufficient. Yet, You have called us to be precariously dependent upon You. When we see how Jesus welcomes the little children, we can als...

life on planet earth on Controlling your Children

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