Carolyn Carleton
  • About
    • media
    • Contact >
      • Subscribe
  • Blog
  • My Journey Journal
  • Living Skies Fibre Studio
    • Living Skies Fibre Studio podcast
    • Prairie Fibre Festivals
  • Workshops
  • Wellness Coaching

parent "ing"

11/16/2015

 
coffee
I am a highly analytical person. My mind is always pondering. My husband is the same way. That is how we first got to know each other and became good friends before we starting dating. 

One of our favourite things to do on a Saturday morning is to sit and have coffee and chat, debate or analyze events, politics or theology. I am so glad that has stayed part of our relationship. We don't always agree but it is something that I cherish in our relationship.

The other day we had a little situation to deal with as a family. Sometimes I get so frustrated with what my daughters are exposed to. You just want to protect them and shield them from the outside scary world. 

My analytical mind started to turn as I thought about parenting. I take my responsibility as a parent very seriously. We had a difficult time conceiving and we are extremely blessed to have the two beautiful daughters that we have been given.  Parenting is without a doubt the most challenging thing that I have ever done, but I am willing to do what ever it takes to be there for our daughters.

Back to my pondering -- the word 'parenting' started to roll around in my head. The 'ing' at the end of the word makes it an action word. So in order to call yourself a parent, you then have to do the action of parenting. How many adults live with young children but do not actively take part in their children's lives and help to raise them to be respected adults. 

I need to point out that I am by no means putting down anyone who is unable to have children or that has made the difficult decision to put up a child for adoption. 

I am talking about the adults that have children living with them that they choose to ignore and spend all their time on Facebook and watching The Bachelor instead of filling the need of a parent that today's children need. My heart aches for these parentless children who just need to feel loved and listened to. 

A few years ago I worked in a high school as an Educational Assistant. I worked with a tough bunch of kids and I loved it. Some days math just wasn't important, the kids I worked with had so many other things they were dealing with that school would just have to take a back seat and we would deal with some of the other issues so that we could move on with their school work at another time. 

One teen girl really broke my heart, many days she would come to school hung over from the night before or even still stoned. One day I asked her why she chose to do this to herself? She stared at me for a few minutes, pondering what her answer would be. She looked at me with a seriousness that I had never seen in her before and she answered, "I wish that just once, my Mom would say no." This teen girl was longing for her Mom to say, "No, I don't want you to go out with your friends tonight, stay home with me and we can watch a movie." I will never forget the look of longing for her Mom in that teen girls eyes, it came from deep within her soul. 

Today I want to challenge that we all make an intentional "parenting" choice with our children. They desire it from us and it is up to us to choose to fill that need. The rewards will be so worth the effort! 

Picture

A Little Respect.........

6/17/2015

0 Comments

 
respect
Developing character within yourself involves knowing your strengths and weaknesses. One of my biggest weaknesses that I am currently working on is that I tend to concentrate on the negative. I am always praying for all the needs in my life because I feel that my life is filled with all these bad things. Then I remember to be thankful and start to think of all the blessings that I have received. There could be worse things happening in my life but God protects me and I need to be thankful, not needy. 

Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name.” Paul advises us, “Always be joyful. Keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:16-18).

One day I was having a needy session with God. My husband and I were going through a difficult time trying to understand what He wanted from us in our current situation. I asked God, “Why are you not honoring us?” You know what I heard in return? “Why should I honor you, when you do not honor Me?” Boy, was that a blow to my ego! I was thinking only of myself and was expecting God to give me everything that I wanted while I was giving Him nothing in return.

That prompted me to evaluate my life with Christ. I was not spending much time studying and meditating on His Word and my prayers were short and to the point, basically saying, “God give me this, Amen.” I certainly was not being an example of Christ in all that I am.  In that condition, who was I to ask anything of Him? In a few simple words of wisdom God put me back on the correct path. He is so awesome!

Compare your relationship with Christ with your relationship with your friends. Imagine going to your friends and asking for stuff for yourself all the time. How long would that friendship last? It’s the same way with Christ. Just as you show respect to your friends and don’t take advantage of the relationship, you should treat Christ the same way. Building a strong relationship with Christ is an essential part of your Christian walk, and any strong relationship will be characterized by mutual respect. Christ already respects you; do you respect Him?

Picture
0 Comments
    Carolyn Carleton
    Picture
    Speaking info

    RSS Feed


    Get notes from Carolyn

    * indicates required
    Email Format

    Powered by MailChimp

    Picture

    Books!

    Picture

    Journals

    Picture
    Picture

    Picture
    Book Club
    Book Reviews
    Choices
    Daughters
    Journaling
    Journey
    Legacy
    Life Lessons
    Mentoring
    Parenting
    Wellness
    Professional Reader

    Categories

    All
    2 Timothy
    31 Days Of Gratitude
    A.B. Simpson
    Acceptance
    Adult Children
    Albert Einstein
    A New Reality
    Answers
    Be Brave
    Be Brave With Your Life
    Being Intentional
    Benefits Of Ginger
    Berea
    Be Still
    Beth Moore
    Bible
    Bible Journaling
    Book Review
    Bridal Shower
    Bucket List
    Burden
    Busyness
    Cell Phone
    Character Building Exercises
    Choices
    Christian
    Christmas
    Church
    Church Abuse
    Community
    Contentment
    Conversations With Corliss
    Cowl Crochet Pattern
    Crafting For Mental Wellness
    Craft Therapy
    Crochet
    Crochet For Mental Wellness
    Crochet Pattern
    Crochet Therapy
    Culture Days
    Daughters
    Deborah
    Delve
    Devotional
    Equipped
    Equipping
    Esther
    Family
    Fibre Arts
    Finding Quiet
    Flooded
    Free Crochet Pattern
    Freedom
    From Hurting To Healing
    Fruit Of The Spirit
    Garbage In Garbage Out
    Gentle And Quiet Spirit
    Gratitude
    Hair-brush-story
    Healing
    Healing From Being Hurt By The Church
    Heart
    Hebrews 12
    Help
    Heroes
    His Mercies Are New Every Morning
    How To
    How To Heal From Church Hurt
    How To Journal Your Life
    Hurt By The Church
    Hurting Women
    Illustrated Faith
    Intentional
    Jennie Allen
    Jesus
    Joanna Gaines
    Jonah
    Journal
    Journaling
    Journaling For Mental Health
    Journaling For Mental Wellness
    Journaling Workshop
    Journal Workshop
    Journal Your Journey
    Journey
    Joy
    KnitCrate
    Kristin Schell
    Lamentations
    Legacy
    Lent
    Life Lessons
    Lifestyle Mentoring
    Light
    Listening To God
    Live Everyday
    Living Skies Crochet
    Living Skies Fibre Studio
    Looking For Lovely
    Love Hug
    Marriage
    Mean Christians
    Mental Health
    Mentoring
    Motherhood
    My Journey
    My Journey Journal
    NetGalley
    Nicki Koziarz
    Nisbet Throw Crochet Pattern
    Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes
    Obedience
    Online Workshop
    Parenting
    Parenting Teen Girls
    Party
    Path
    Paul
    Peace
    Perimenopause
    Perimenopause Support
    Philippians 4:13
    Podcast
    Potential
    Praise
    Prayer
    Prince Albert National Park
    Progessence
    Purpose
    Questions
    Quiet
    Quiet Place
    Relationships
    Respect
    Rest
    Romans 15:13
    Sabbath
    Samaritan-woman
    Saskatchewan
    Scripture
    Searching For Truth
    Setting Goals
    She Reads Truth
    Smile
    Social Media Cleanse
    Social Media Help
    Stop Going To Church
    Strength
    Stress
    Students
    Study
    Suicide
    Survey
    Teenager
    Teen Girls
    Teens
    Testimony
    Thankful
    Thankful-thursday
    The Magnolia Story
    The Turquoise Table
    Think
    Titus 2
    Tween
    Use Your Brain
    Weaving Into Wellness
    Weekly Journal
    Wellness
    Wellness Wednesday
    What Makes You Unique?
    Where To Start
    Why
    Why Is Journaling Good For You
    Women
    Workshop
    Write Your Life
    Writing
    Yarn Box
    Year End Review
    Young Living
    Young Living Canada
    Youth
    Youth Leaving The Church


Home
About
Blog
Living Skies Fibre Studio
Journal
Contact

©2007- 2022 CAROLYN CARLETON . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
website proudly designed by Living Skies Consulting
  • About
    • media
    • Contact >
      • Subscribe
  • Blog
  • My Journey Journal
  • Living Skies Fibre Studio
    • Living Skies Fibre Studio podcast
    • Prairie Fibre Festivals
  • Workshops
  • Wellness Coaching