by jot and tittle

In my last post I talked about how much of a blessing parents are and how mine are especially a blessing to me. Shortly after posting it a good friend of mine brought up the fact that we also learn bad things from our parents and should try to weed those qualities out. In order to help do this and to learn things that our parents can't teach us he brought up that it is sometimes helpful to adopt "fill-in" parents, however, is this undermining your own parents?  I would be inclined to think that "fill-in" parents can be a great blessing to you and to your parents as well. It is good to have more people around you who care for your spiritual wellbeing and yourself as a person in general. We aught to have older men and women who encourage us in the faith, both with words of kindness and with words of exhortation so that we are made more and more to look like God. Titus 2 talks about how older women are to teach younger women to work at home and how older men sh...

There they are. You have them too. Everyone does. They are the people who told you “no” when you were little and then continued to tell you “no” as you grew up and then when you finally became an adult they told you “well, it’s really up to you” but what they meant was “no” and you just wished they said it out loud. However, they were also the people who fed your friends when they came over, taught you to do dishes, bought your first puppy, and make cake for your birthday. They are your parents and you probably won’t realize how much they shaped who you are until you no longer live with them. This is what happened to me.   Growing up there were things I didn’t understand about my parents and things I didn’t like. There were times we didn’t get along and many times when we couldn’t stop laughing. I don’t think I really appreciated them until I moved out and I probably still don’t appreciate them as much as I should. One thing I found frustrating at times was when I would ask ...