The Parental Assignment Mindset : Couple’s Companion Day 82
MAIN TEXT: Phil.4:4-7.
MEMORY:
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.(Phil.4:6)
This mindset makes you to see yourself, whether male or female, as having been assigned to raise up your children without any specific role. There is no specificity of roles in child-raising assignment as unforeseen circumstances may change your traditional role in the family. If it happens that way in your family and you are now the breadwinner of the home, always remember the following:
It Is Nothing Special.
This mindset will make you to believe that you are not doing anything special if you find yourself in the position of carrying out most or even all the financial responsibilities in the home. In fact, you should thank God that you have the privilege of doing so. The scripture for today enjoins you to do everything with a heart full of prayer and thanksgiving in any situation you may find yourself.
Your New Status Change Must Not Change You.
You won’t become ungovernable as a wife for instance if fortune smiles on you in your business and you become the breadwinner of your family. If as a husband, you find yourself in a position which is higher than what you were before, you won’t throw away your wife that she no longer befits you.
You Won’t Be Complaining About Your Spouse.
You won’t be complaining about your spouse, especially in the presence of your children. When as a man, you are fond of complaining about your wife just because you are the breadwinner of the family, it may have a negative effect on the relationship between you and your children.
Don’t Let The Children Know That Roles Have Changed.
If your spouse has been carrying out some responsibilities before but for some understandable reasons, such as job loss or other unexpected challenges, he is unable to continue with it, don’t demonstrate it to your children that you are now the one carrying out the assignment. Just take it on as if it is your natural role; indeed it is!
You Won’t Become Ungovernable At Home.
There are wives that their husbands can’t control just because providence made them to become the breadwinner of the home. Your new status should not make you to be beyond correction. You should always remember that no man can receive anything except it is given to him from above.
…A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
(Jn.3:27)
Humility is the hallmark of a true believer in whatever position he or she may be.
You Won’t Indulge Your Children.
When God has blessed you, you won’t have the feeling that whatever you say is the best idea. When your spouse wants to discipline your children, you won’t insist that he could not do so because if they are ill, you are the one that will pay hospital bills. Children raised under such environment will have a faulty upbringing that will create problems for them in the future.
DISCUSSION POINTS WITH YOUR SPOUSE
• Go through the list of responsibilities in your home, is there any one of them that you will never do if circumstances push it to you?
PRAYER
Father, may I joyfully and gratefully take on any responsibility in the home whenever circumstances make it imperative for me to do so in Jesus’ name.
QUOTABLE QUOTE
IF AS A MAN, IT IS WHEN GOD HAS BLESSED YOU MATERIALLY THAT YOU DISCOVER THAT YOUR WIFE IS NO LONGER BEFITTING YOUR STATUS OR AS A WOMAN YOU ARE NO LONGER ABLE TO SUBMIT TO YOUR HUSBAND; SHOULD WE BLAME GOD FOR BLESSING YOUR LIFE? – Dr. Mike Oluniyi