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When “Training Up” Ends and Moving Out Begins: Parenting College Aged Children
By Pam Thompson Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 ESV It is difficult to discern whether this Proverb is a command, or a comfort. But, for most parents, it is our prayer — our plea. Our children grow up and move out. We spend years worrying about and sweating the small stuff. We agonize over preschool choices and screen time limits. But, we have also spent much time in prayer and teaching of our children. We teach them the prayers of our faith. We read to them from the Bible. We teach them…
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Motherhood as Vocation
There are few vocations as riddled with fruitless worry as that of motherhood. For many of us this begins as soon we find out we’re pregnant, with questions of what to eat, how our lives will change, what will remain the same, and all of the concerns over whether or not the baby will be healthy. Indeed, anxiety dreams during pregnancy are almost legendary—I know I once had a vivid dream that I was actually pregnant with a three-legged pony. It’s not as if these concerns stop once the baby is born. How many of us have sat up in the middle of the night with a screaming baby and…
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For All Who Are Weary
Whether you’re married, a mother, or working outside the home, one fact is true about the vast majority of women these days. We’re exhausted. We’re stressed out, overcommitted, tired, and dissatisfied with how we balance our responsibilities and our family life. Women are leaving the church or never joining in the first place, becoming part of the “Nones”, the group of Americans who claim “spirituality” but no particular religious affiliation, in numbers that have never been seen before. I can’t always blame them. There’s so much to DO to be a good Christian woman these days. Could it be that more women are burning out or just choosing not to get…
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5 Things That Do Not Offer Salvation
Spend much time at all among Lutherans and you’re likely to eventually hear the phrase “proper distinction of Law and Gospel”. This is something we cherish — the preaching of God’s Law along with the soothing words of His Gospel predominating. Yet, we aren’t a perfect lot, and sometimes we can find ourselves drifting away from this right balance, falling to one side of the sword edge or the other — diving into a Gospel reductionist mindset (where we downplay the importance and necessity of the Law) or wandering into Law-Law-Law territory. While both deviations are equally possible, it is the latter that has me up at 4am writing, rather than attempting to catch…
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On Being Friends With Pastors’ Wives
by Vanessa Rasanen My two best friends at church happen to be the wives of our pastors. I’m not sure how it happened exactly — perhaps it’s that we’re all around the same age. Or maybe that our kids are around the same age. Or maybe it’s that as a military spouse, I can relate a bit to the frequent solo parenting we each endure due to our husbands’ schedules. Beyond that, they’re just really awesome women who I get along with, so friendship just developed naturally. And that’s not a bad thing. Because our pastors’ wives need friends, too. Sure, they have a built in support system with the other…
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The Lutheran Working Mother
by Pam Thompson I always imagined that I would be a stay at home mom. My mom worked outside the home, in a community filled with housewives. There were times I thought I was missing out, not having my mom be a room mother, or hosting fun swim parties in the summer. I attended college, earned a degree, and hoped for a good job to hold me over until I had children “someday”. Someday came quickly. Our first son was born a few weeks after our first anniversary. He was followed by three brothers and set of twin sisters. I enjoyed my time as a stay at home mom. But,…
