Skip to main content

Book Review: The Blessing

Dalton with friends

The season of my life is a-changing with the falling of the leaves.  Actually, no leaves are falling right now where I am in Brazil, but it is October!  The season to which I refer is that of being the mother of emerging young men.  I now have an almost sixteen year old, a fourteen year old, and my baby who is eleven.  The oldest is wearing men's size pants, shirts and shoes.  Girls look his way when we are out and about.  Life is changing as my dear husband and I move into the next stage - preparing our chicks to make life decisions.


The title of the book - The Blessing - and its description appealed to me as I consider these days how to best convey my love and hopes to each of my boys.  Recent days have shown to me that with peer pressure, parent weariness, and just the changing nature of boys into men, I needed some new books beyond Dare to Discipline and Bringing Up Boys.   I truly wanted a good instructional guide on how to pass on the gift of true love and acceptance to each of my sons.

The Blessing does just that in a concise and readable manner.  As a Christian parent I appreciated the many Biblical references and applications.  I think the part that spoke the most to me was in considering this a goal of all parents - making sure our children know beyond any doubt that they are loved and wanted.

This is a practical book with many great ideas on how to pass on a blessing to others.  I highly recommend it to all Christian parents.
My Dear Little Friend on the right


Little boys and girls in Brazil often approach their grandparents, aunts and uncles with an extended hand saying, "Blessing, grandfather" or "Blessing, Aunt."  It was my great privilege to have a little friend whom I had not seen for some months reach his little hand out to me and ask for a blessing.  I kissed his hand as I had seen others do and he pulled his back with mine to do the same.  As a missionary I have the extended responsibility to go beyond my own children and family as I reach out to bless other lives with God's love.

Get the book and be a blessing!

Comments

  1. Love reading about what you are reading about! Keep on passing the blessing along, missionary and friend!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for stopping by! Leave me a message if you would.

Popular posts from this blog

The Sun is Not Yet Set

  Byron, the guy in the white helmet, turns 61 today.  That's our son, Byron the Third in the black helmet.  He'll be 30 on his next birthday at the end of the year.   My husband and I were close to thirty ourselves when we had our first son. Lately it seems that every other day or so someone wants to know "When we are going to retire?" Sometimes it feels more like, "When are you going to leave" is the real question, but that's a story for another post sometime. Has the sunset on our work and ministry in Brazil?  Is it time to hang our hats and pack it all up.  Are we too old? Too old for what?  Too old to tell others about the love of God?  Too old to preach and teach?  Too old to ride a motorcycle on dirt roads? Okay, you may have us on that last one!  It took a few days to recover from our 8 days of motorcycle travel with our oldest and his wife last month.  It took a few weeks to recover from all the bumps and aches of our ...

The Big Orange Cat

Do you boys remember that big orange cat at the mission house in North Carolina?  That was a special day for me.  I don't have a new story for this Friday.  I've had a long week, but my mind kept going back to that cat this week as I thought about what I would post for you boys today.  Click on the link down below to go back to my big people blog and reread the cat story if you like. Oh, by the way, this morning I made a special trip down to the other end of our town to see the guinea pigs being sold at a grocery store.  This particular store sells medicine and feed for all kinds of animals.  This month they are selling guinea pigs, baby chickens, and dachshund puppies!  Their guinea pigs looked very healthy.  They are selling them for BR$10 each or BR$15 for a pair.  Uncle Byron said that he was glad I didn't bring any home with me! One more thing - this week a mama possum came in our yard.  The dogs chased it and Girl Dog let out a squ...

My Promise Verse

Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take:  when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. This verse has been a favorite of mine since I was a teenager. When I was a high school senior at a Christian school in Virginia, Job 23:10 was chosen as our class theme verse. At our graduation commencement, the valedictorian and saludatorian in their addresses that day divided the verse in its two natural parts as a basis for the core of each one's address. I was the salutatorian of my senior class that year.  I chose to speak of how God would one day reward our faithfulness and thus, we should always strive to remain true. For many years though, the first part of the verse haunted me in a way. As a missionary especially when times were lonely or difficult, I assumed it was my "trial" or "test," and as such must be accepted in all humility. As I have grown older, I have begun to look more toward the pearly gates and have reconsidered the thr...