<\/p>\n
\u201cLet your \u2018Yes\u2019 be \u2018Yes,\u2019 and your \u2018No,\u2019 \u2018No.\u2019\u201d Matthew 5:37 NKJV<\/p>\n
Raising daughters has taught me the reality of Matthew 5:37! If they have room to wiggle in a maybe, my daughters will relentlessly pursue a yes, like wiggling that first baby tooth loose! Or they will assume a \u2018yes,\u2019 which is a dangerous tendency we all have to misinterpret a maybe. Growing up, my daughters and I spent much time together while my husband worked long hours. Over the years, we\u2019ve even dubbed ourselves \u2018the three musketeers.\u2019 Our closeness has made telling them \u2018No\u2019 all the much more complicated. When they are in danger as toddlers and littles, it\u2019s easy to conjure up a firm \u2018no.\u2019 But as they age, the crocodile tears start to stream and cause even the most astute and wise mom to question their own \u2018no.\u2019 I\u2019ve learned to stand firm in the \u2018no\u2019 moments, even if I am not sure I\u2019m making the right call. \u201cYour job is to listen to me,\u201d I tell them, \u201cIf I\u2019m wrong, God will deal with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide me Me.\u201d John 15:4 NKJV<\/p>\n
The Gospel of John and these words of Jesus, he recorded, have been rocks of wisdom that hold the corners of my life in place. I\u2019ve only raised daughters, so I can only speak from that angle, but it sure seems like girls have a lot of emotions to work out in life. I think, as women, we are constantly reigning in our astute sensitivity and empathy for the world around us and the people we\u2019ve been blessed to keep watch over. In a world full of parenting books, ever-changing methods, and psychiatric philosophies as each generation emerges a little differently, I decided early on to hold the Author of all generations above all else consistently. I read parenting books, listened to podcasts, and sought counsel from Christ-centered sources. In conversations with other moms and wise parents who had gone and were going before me, I took everything back to the Lord to ask Him if it was right. Seeking His opinion was something I chose to make a priority from the start.<\/p>\n
‘Mother with two teen daughters hugging’ photo credit: \u00a9GettyImages\/Rawpixel<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cLet your \u2018Yes\u2019 be \u2018Yes,\u2019 and your \u2018No,\u2019 \u2018No.\u2019\u201d Matthew 5:37 NKJV Raising daughters has taught me the reality of Matthew 5:37! If they have room to wiggle in a maybe, my daughters will relentlessly pursue a yes, like wiggling that first baby tooth loose! Or they will assume a \u2018yes,\u2019 which is a dangerous<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[409,790,2929,2568],"class_list":{"0":"post-18210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-christian-living","8":"tag-daughters","9":"tag-powerful","10":"tag-raising","11":"tag-taught"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}