family. moms and dads – personal reflection

A Parent’s Reflection – Week 2

Series: Family: Covenant Relationships
Message Title: Moms & Dads – The Covenant of Stewardship

Introduction

Parenting is not ownership — it’s covenant stewardship. Children are gifts from God, entrusted to moms and dads (single or together) to be raised with love, discipline, presence, and faith. As you reflect this week, consider how your parenting — or your influence as a mentor or spiritual parent — can more fully align with God’s covenant design.

Reflection Questions

1. Children as Gifts
Read Psalm 127:3 (NLT): “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.”

• Do you truly see children — your own or those in your sphere of influence — as gifts from God?
• What changes when you view them as arrows to be released rather than possessions to control?

2. Transferring Dependence
Read Deuteronomy 6:6–7 (NLT): “You must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands… Repeat them again and again to your children.”

• What are some ways you intentionally point children toward God in everyday life (bedtime, meals, car rides)?
• Are there areas where you may be teaching them to depend more on you than on Him?

3. Discipline With Love
Read Ephesians 6:4 (NLT): “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger… Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.”

• Think about how you currently discipline. Is it shaping or shaming?
• What would it look like to bring correction that flows from love instead of frustration?

4. Parenting by Presence
Read Mark 10:16 (NLT): “Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.”

• How can you give more intentional presence (time, touch, and talk) to the children in your life?
• What tends to distract you from being fully present, and how could you shift those priorities this week?

5. Modeling Faith
Read Mark 7:6 (NLT): “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

• What message is your lifestyle preaching to your children right now?
• Where might you need to bring your example into greater alignment with your words?

Closing Thought

Parenting is a holy calling. Children are not just lives we raise — they are covenant gifts entrusted to us by God. This week, commit to seeing them through His eyes, shaping them with His discipline, and modeling a faith worth imitating.