Strengthening Our Families

Last week MJ Radock gave us some ideas for having summer fun with our children. It is easy for us to recognize God’s call to us to be stewards of our children. It is a rewarding stewardship practice as they love us so generously and freely in return.

In this week’s thoughts on stewardship, let’s push that bubble to include not just our children, but all the members of our immediate families. God calls each of us to live in a family unit – however your particular unit may be defined. He calls us to be good stewards of that unit, each of us loving and caring for the other members. With the pace and stresses of our busy lives, it is easy to forget that we must take time and be intentional in the stewardship of those sometimes fragile family bonds.

In this stewardship message, Dr. Jan Warburton, a licensed psychologist and member of our parish, writes about strengthening our relationships with those people who are closest to us.

 

Strengthening Our Families

Creating a working partnership among family members means developing a complex system. The system needs to establish somewhat fluid ways of helping and nurturing each other, while minimizing demands. Sometimes, it’s difficult to avoid internal friction.

A research study done decades ago arranged to have users of a pay phone either conduct their call as usual and then move on or find over a dollar’s worth of change in the coin return after making their call. (Readers under the age of 30 are likely to have no idea what this contraption called a pay phone is all about!) A researcher disguised as an older woman struggling with her grocery bags walked by the phone booth as the users exited. The bags were rigged so the woman could make the groceries spill out the bottom of the bags onto the sidewalk. Overwhelmingly the folks who had found money in the phone helped her, but those who did not find any change mostly avoiding “seeing” her.

We are most generous when our needs are fulfilled. Of course, this can be far more complex than is simply stated in this brief commentary, but basically looking for ways to give in to things that are more important to your partner, delighting a child with your time and attention, and spontaneously giving of kindness all around—these are some of the best places to begin strengthening your family.

  

Creator God, Thank you for the gift of family. May we celebrate with each other in joy, support each other in times of sorrow or pain, forgive each other’s thoughtless actions, and love each other unconditionally as you have loved us. Help us to look into each other’s eyes and see your presence residing there. Amen.

Summer Fun

Summer vacation – that long stretch of time that our children enjoy because it provides a break from the daily schedule of classroom learning.  However, their young brains are like dry sponges, and even without a formal school lesson, they are soaking up information and experiences. This week MJ Radock, a member of our parish who is also an elementary teacher in the Fairview School District, provides us with some fun suggestions for watering those thirsty brains until fall.

Here are 5 fun ideas to help your child maintain those hard-won skills from this past year.

1. Read to your child- no matter what the age. You are modeling good reading skills as you stimulate the imagination. Ask who, what, where, when, why and how questions. Why did the bunny do that? What do you think will happen next? And so on.
2. Have your child read every day- at least as long as s/he plays video games! It can be a paired, group, or silent activity. Children can lose up to 6 months reading level during the summer. Daily reading should become a child's pleasurable choice. My mother would let me out of a chore until I was done reading!
3. Practice math facts. Those basic facts are necessary for math success. Practice can happen any time- even on the way to soccer practice. Parents all out a fact and the child answers. We are talking single digits here: 8+4 or 6 x 8. Let your child quiz you, too. To make it fun, you can use digits from a license plate or a billboard. Later, you can break out the playing cards and play Fact War. Remove the face cards first but leave in the Jokers- they are zeroes.
4. Get outside. Look for evidence of the life cycle of a bug or fruit. This is the summer of the cicada so look for their husks. If you are lucky, you will find a live one- a sight to remember! Go creek walking and look for fossils or interesting rocks. Look them up on the internet if you don't have books to identify them.
5. Map your backyard. You can even hide an apple or other snack and mark it on the map. If you are going on a trip, print out a map and have your child follow along and tell you when to turn.

 Dear God, I thank You for the gift of this child to raise, this life to share, this mind to help mold, this body to nurture, and this spirit to enrich. Let me never betray this child's trust, dampen this child's hope, or discourage this child's dreams. Help me, dear God, to help this precious child become all You mean him to be. Let Your grace and love fall on him like gentle breezes and give him inner strength and peace and patience for the journey ahead. Amen.

 

Preserving God's Work in Creation

At this week’s Vestry meeting, during our opening prayers, a question was posed to us. What will we do today to preserve God’s work in creation?  Several of the answers included eating more fresh fruits and vegetables and eating more locally produced foods.

            In a world where many go hungry each day, and many live in areas in which the land cannot produce enough (or any) food, we in this part of Pennsylvania are blessed by our Creator with an abundance of local farms and farm produce. Taking advantage of this local produce exercises stewardship in at least three different ways:

1.     We become better stewards of our bodies and our health. Everyone knows that eating more vegetables and fruits improves our health and helps protect against some diseases. Local produce is fresher, has more taste, and contains more nutrients than food which has traveled a distance or been processed or preserved.  Interested in eating seasonably? Check out  http://eatseasonably.co.uk/what-to-eat-now/calendat/

2.     We become better stewards of the environment. It is estimated that the average American meal travels 1500mi. from farm to table. This uses almost 10Kcal. of fossil fuel energy  for every 1Kcal. of energy we get from that food. For other interesting food/environment facts, go to www.cuesa.org/how far does your food travel

3.     We become better stewards of our local economy. As we support the local farmers they will in turn be able to support their local supplies and other local businesses.

What will YOU do today to preserve God’s work in creation?