“Duties of Parents” by J.C. Ryle Quotes
“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;”
I’m endeavoring to not only read more, but to read well. Part of doing so includes processing and applying what I’m reading, instead of simply in-taking information. Through the recent journey of learning about a Charlotte Mason philosophy of home educating our children, I learned about the age old practice of keeping a commonplace book. While the thought of handwriting meaningful and convicting quotes from content I’m reading with a fancy pen in a linen covered or leather bound journal is certainly appealing, it’s not presently practical. So, for the sake of guarding the limited margin I have in this glorious and gritty season of full time life with littles, welcome to my digital commonplace journal. I hope you enjoy the snippets of quotes from my recent reads and I’m glad to have a common place to access them for continued pondering and future reference.
Summary: My personal takeaway from this book is that God is the ultimate source and authority of truth; imagine that! This pertains to all of life, and especially to parenting. Look to and trust God’s means and instruction given to define the duties required of me as a parent and the methods of carrying out those duties. Look to and trust God to sustain and strengthen me to fulfill those duties and faithfully steward the children He has entrusted us with. Plead with God to give me increased compassion, sympathy, realistic expectations, and understanding as I deal with and delight in our children. Plead with God to cause me to grow in increasing in and bearing the fruits of His Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) as I seek to honor him in carrying out these parental duties, for His glory.
“Reasoning with our children can be a wise and helpful thing to do, at certain times. But we should never lose sight of the fact that our children are still only children, after all- that each of them thinks as a child, understands as a child, and therefore (if we truly love them) must not be expected to act like an adult who knows and understands the reason of everything at once.” p. 45, paragraph 2 from Chapter 8 Your Children and Trusting You
“This (referring to the leading trait in God’s character as the God of truth. That He never swerves from the straight line of truth. That He abhors lying and hypocrisy) is something that we need to try to keep continually in our minds. We need to impress upon them at all times that anything less than the truth is a lie; that evasion, excuse-making, and exaggeration are all halfway houses towards what is false. and therefore ought to be avoided. We must encourage them in any and every circumstance to be straightforward and, whatever the cost, to speak the truth.” p. 53, paragraph 2 from Chapter 10 Your Children and the Truth
“Idleness is the devil’s best friend. It is the surest way to give him an opportunity to do us harm. An idle mind is like an open door, and if Satan himself does not enter in by it, then you can be sure he will throw in something else to raise bad thoughts in our souls.” Chapter 11 Your Children and Idleness
“No created being was ever meant to be idle. Service and work is the appointment portion of every creature of God…And so now, as weak sinful people, we must have something to occupy our time, or else we will soon find ourselves in a spiritually unhealthy state. We must put our hands to work and keep our minds occupied, or else our imaginations will soon ferment and breed mischief.” Chapter 11 Your Children and Idleness
“If you always sit still, your body is sure to suffer. And so it is with the soul. The active, moving mind is a hard mark for the devil to shoot at. Try to find useful way to keep yourselves active and engaged in work, service or helpful pastimes. If we do this, the enemy will find it hard to find room to sow seeds of sinfulness in our lives.” Chapter 11 Your Children and Idleness
“In the same way, it is important that we set these things before the minds of our children. We need to teach them the value of time, and try to help them learn the habit of using it well.” Chapter 11 Your Children and Idleness
“If we indeed love our children, we will make sure that idleness is counted as a sin in our families.” Chapter 11 Your Children and Idleness
“Our children need reproof, but it is hardly ever given. They need correction, but it is hardly ever employed. And yet the book of Proverbs is not obsolete and unfit for Christians. It is given by the inspiration of God, and is therefore profitable for us in everyday life. Proverbs is given just as much for our spiritual good as Romans or Ephesians. Surely anyone who brings up their children without paying careful attention to its wisdom is putting themselves above God’s wisdom in Scripture, and therefore making a grave mistake.” Chapter 12 Your Children and Being Spoilt
“Parents, for the sake of our children, we must beware of overindulgence. Remember, it is our first duty to look after their real interests and not their wants or desires. We should seek to train them, not to humour them; to help them grow, not merely to please them.” Chapter 12 Your Children and Being Spoilt
“We must not give way to every wish and whim of our child’s mind, however much we may love them. We must not let them suppose that their will in the be-all and end-all, that they have only to desire something and it will be done. Whatever we do, we must not make our children into our idols, in case our holy and jealous God should need to take drastic action to convince and convict us of our idolatry and foolishness.” Chapter 12 Your Children and Being Spoilt
“Learn to say ‘no’ to your children. Show them that you are able to refuse whatever you think is unfit for them. Show them that you are ready to punish disobedience, and that when you speak of punishment, you are not only ready to threaten it, but also to carry it out. Yet, do not threaten too much. There is an old saying, ‘Threatened men live long’, which essentially highlights how we soon realize when threats against us are hollow and rarely get carried out. So, seldom punish your children, but when you do, do it properly and in earnest because frequent and insignificant punishments are just as ineffective as no punishment at all.” Chapter 12 Your Children and Being Spoilt
“Lastly and most importantly, do not be worries or concerned that following God’s plan might make them unhappy. Let me warn you against this delusion. We must hold fast to this truth: there is no road more certain to lead to unhappiness that always having our own way. To have our desires checked and denied is a blessing for us, not least because it makes us value them when they do come our way. To be constantly indulged is the way to be made selfish-and selfish, spoiled children are seldom happy. So I urge you not to think of yourself as being wiser than God: raise your family in the same way that God raises His.” Chapter 13 Remember God’s Example
