Parenting Wisdom for Non-Parents

I'm sitting at Chick-Fil-A, passing the time and waiting to head over to SAS. I brought along with me "One Thousand Things," to read as I munched on my chicken minis and sip my steaming coffee. One part really stuck out to me, and I wanted to share it with you.

A little background on the passage - the author, Anne, was having breakfast with her children. One of her sons slaps his brother in the face with a piece of toast. She shares what went through her mind - being so angry at him and realizing, even though it's just a piece of toast, it reflects his heart. Then she says:

"It's my own face that obscures the face of God. How can I help this son of mine see when I can't see? The parent must always self-parent first, self-preach before child-teach, because who can bring peace unless they've had their own peace? Christ incarnated in the parent is the ONLY hope of incarnating Christ in the child..." -Ann Voskamp

Now, Cal and I aren't planning on having children for several years, but this passage stopped me in my tracks. Just because we aren't a mom and dad yet doesn't mean that we shouldn't be preparing for parenthood. In order to raise our children to have hearts for God, we need to work on improving our individual relationships with God and building our foundation upon Him. No, we won't ever be perfect people or perfect parents, but in order to benefit our children am their relationship with our Savior, we need to first examine where we are.

Happy Friday!