Last Sunday we had our official "Baby Dedication." We took Aiden forward during church and dedicated to raising him to know and grow in the Lord. The Pastor then prayed over us, asking the Lord to provide us with grace and wisdom to raise Aiden. It was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the blessing of a first born son, and to vow to raise him to be a godly man. Rob's family came to church to be there for the dedication and to celebrate with us after at home.
In the process of preparing for this special dedication Rob and I have also been discussing some of the ways we need to put this into practice. Keeping our lives and our home spiritually clean is one of those important ways. As we discussed it further we realised that this is a task that takes constant vigilance and determination. We are parents who are also sinners. As sinners we often sin and fall short of the Lord's perfect will for us. We make mistakes, and sometimes we let a little bit of the world creep into our home. In this day and age it has become so easy to allow worldliness into our lives without even noticing.
We realised that we need to spiritually spring clean our home on a regular basis. We want our home to be an oasis of peace and purity, but it won't stay that way unless we guard it. We need to evaluate everything that has already made it into our home and decide if it is worthy of staying here. We also need to evaluate everything that comes our way and decide if it is worthy of being allowed into our home in the first place. And those items that are no longer welcome, they go straight into the trash. If it isn't worthy for us it won't be worthy for anyone else.
This principle is true for our individual lives as well as our home and family in general. What I allow into my life will affect my heart. Focusing on keeping a pure heart involves different details for each of us, but the principle that holds true of keeping the Lord at the center is always the same. Anything, no matter how good, that distracts me from keeping the Lord first, my husband second and my parenting third is something that is keeping me from being spiritually clean.
Although there are many things I'd like to spend time blogging about, my time is precious and there just isn't enough to spare to blog as often as I want to. Life with an almost five month old who is learning to become mobile keeps my days fully packed just trying to keep up with household chores. Nap times are for showering, time with the Lord and chores I can't do when Aiden is awake. Evening and weekend hours are for my husband (and family time) with Sunday set aside as our Lord's Day, where we shut ourselves off from the world (no internet, no dvds, no stores or restuarants etc) and just go to church and spend time together.
In saying all of this I need to finish as my son needs me.
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