DadSez:”There are risks and costs to a program of action, but there are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.”JFK

Posted via email from Become a Better Father with Scott Hammond

How to Leave a Spiritual Legacy

SPIRITUAL LEGACY—GOD STUFF

We know that God works all things for good for those who love him, for those called according to His purpose.” St. Paul

Where do you start with on the spiritual stuff?
Much of this subject has been debated by brilliant minds for centuries.
How does one translate ones faith to their children or loved ones without some fundamental disconnects in communication? How do we talk in a common dialect? What is the commonality? What are the common assumptions? There aren’t many…. We are a post-Christian nation with a mishmash and hodgepodge of spiritual and not so spiritual values and beliefs systems. These often contradict, are illogical, and sometimes patently nonsensical. These belief systems are almost always adopted in the name of diversity, tolerance and usually some measure of self-serving accommodation to what we really desire in their own self-made religion. We therefore create God in our image. We create God in an image that we like and accommodates what we believe is true. This is spiritual and intellectual hypocrisy in its highest form. It negates what is known about God, and seems to be the new religion of the masses.
It is all so over talked, used, abused, and mishandled so that it’s a tough subject to treat with any hope of non-bias, open-mindedness, possibility thinking. It seems that everybody has their own spirituality of one sort or another. To address anything spiritual seems to attack individuals on sort of a personal level. This defensive position precludes any positive or open dialogue that might lead to new information or even new awakening.
Kind of pathetic, wouldn’t you say?

A relationship with God—
Relationship with God is premised on spiritual values in truth, which encompass common purpose, foundation, priorities, and truth.
There is such a universal misunderstanding of God, spirituality, Christianity, and anything religious in our society. That makes it tough to translate one’s faith into a positive dialogue of understanding and mutual comprehension.
Let’s give it a go anyway…
A relationship with God begins with an understanding of grace and mercy and receiving his love for genuine faith and belief. It begins with forgiveness, freedom restoration and healing of the wounds in the hurts of life. What follows is that we can begin to understand that we’re forgiven and free. This is a bona fide sense of restoration and refreshment.

A walk and friendship with God—
A quiet time of devotion, usually in the morning, is a great venue to learn about God and to begin to hear truth in the context of quietness, faith, hope and love. Childlike faith and innocence are key here. Having daily communion with God in prayer, and having a relationship, which promotes a rapport with Him is where it all starts. To begin to get a sense of God’s direction for your life on an inner heart level is the beginning of this friendship. To know the father heart of God is love is to begin to understand what He is after in our lives. This relationship is based on a response to His love and kindness as opposed to fear-based relationship of dominance or heavy handedness.
One can then focus on growing in their faith. This is way beyond simple knowledge or information download of facts and figures and data. What we are talking about here is a relationship based on a friendship with God in the context of a relationship with spending time in prayer, meditation, quietness and listening. Grace is paramount as the foundation; God loves and honors you…just because. Bible study becomes more than a daily chore or download with the Holy Spirit making the pages of the Bible alive and living— change/transformation becomes possible.

Translating this love of God to our kids—
1. How do I translate something as intangible as love and faith toward God to my kids?
2. How do I adequately model and live with this belief/faith/paradigmto those that love the most?
3. How do I properly translate the God to my children?
4. Who’s up for such a task is this?
5. How do I not make the same mistakes as so many fathers before me, who failed or ignored the mandate to show their kids the true love of God?
I have a mandate and an inner compelling to want to give my kids at least a small vision of the father heart of God and to show them his heart/kindness through my actions, words and deeds.
How can I get connected enough to God to genuinely be a conduit of his love for His purpose?
Once I have that connection, how do I then form a lifelong relationship with by children? Then I can pass along more than to spiritual values—a true life-changing relationship to the God of the universe who truly loves us all?

This is the stuff of Spiritual Legacy. This is the deeper stuff of life and parenting. This is the core of fathering and parenting. Fail at this and fail as a parent.