Valerie is a 42-year-old, single, Reformed Christian lady who lives in Baltimore. She doesn't remember a time
before she knew and loved Jesus, but she does remember accepting John Calvin into her heart in March of 2000.
Valerie is a member of Christ Reformed Evangelical Church in Annapolis.
Though her career aspiration is to be a housewife, Valerie has not yet found anyone suitable who wishes to hire
her for employment in that field (or, more properly, anyone suitable has not found her), so in the meantime she
earns her daily bread working in communications -- editing, writing, print design and website management.
Loving Little Ones...and Big Ones
Doug Wilson is in the midst of a sermon series on child-rearing. I always listen to his (and others') family teaching with two things in mind: How can I, as a familyless person, extrapolate and apply this to other relationships? and How does this help me understand myself and my own family better? Pastor Wilson's most recent message addressed breaking the will without breaking the spirit, and what it looks like when the wrong parts are broken or left unbroken: both spirit and will are broken, neither is broken, or the spirit is broken and the will is left unbroken. The message addressed how to avoid those problems, and of course parents could also apply it by correcting their course if they see things going the wrong direction, but didn't go into how to repair the mess if things have gone really awry. I asked this question on Pastor Wilson's blog, but I thought I'd put it here, too, in case anyone had any thoughts on the matter:
I'd be interested in a follow-up on what happens when the wrong parts are broken or left unbroken...not just in children, but in adults who weren't properly disciplined when they were children, and the damage shows. How do we do "remedial parenting" -- in our families, in ourselves, in our churches, in our society? How do we apply the principles of child discipline (we clearly can't apply the means!) to grown-up discipleship?
