Grace-Based Parenting

This morning I watched Elyse Fitzpatrick's interview regarding the process of creating her new release, Give Them Grace; Dazzle Your Kids with the Love of Jesus.  I haven't read her book, but after watching her interview I'm convinced I need to read it.   I've been so saturated with legalism that I don't always recognize it's grasp.  I naturally have the tendency to want to force my child to conform without addressing her heart issues.  Yes, I recognize this about myself even though she's only seven months old.  I've had to struggle with the mindset of Sunday School and Church + Homeschooling + Daily Devotions = a Godly child.  Only God can alter the course of a young rebellious heart. I must be more intentional in my parenting and teach the Gospel to her through my words, actions and even discipline.

If you teach the child wrongly, he believes you; if you teach him heresies, he will receive them; what you teach him now, he will never forget. You are not sowing, as some say, on virgin soil, for it has long been occupied by the devil; but you are sowing on a soil more fertile now than it ever will be again,—soil that will produce fruit now, far better than it will do in after days; you are sowing on a young heart, and what you sow will be pretty sure to abide there, especially if you teach evil, for that will never be forgotten.  .  . Have a care, it is a child's soul you are tampering with, if you are tampering at all; it is a child's soul you are preparing for eternity, if God is with you. I give you a solemn admonition on every child's behalf. Surely, if it be murder to administer poison to the dying, it must be far more criminal to give poison to the young life. If it be evil to mislead grey—headed age, it must be far more so to turn aside the feet of the young into the road of error, in which they may for ever walk. - Spurgeon