The Love Dare...for Parents

Now these three remain: faith, hope 

and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

(1 Corinthians 13:13)

According to the intro to a book I just began reading.  My children are the fruit of my life. God made them in His image, created them with a purpose, loves them without limitation, and then placed them in my care.  This used to give me a Holy fear. Now 10 years later I want to find that fear again because I believe it will make me a better father.

I don't know about you, but I often find myself expecting perfection out of my two girls.  Now if you asked me I would tell you I don't expect them to be perfect, but if you watched my reactions when they make mistakes or choose to do wrong it's obvious I need a lot of work in grace and compassion.  Then I'm mad at myself and that causes me stress and then my stress is causing me stress.  I'm feeling pretty lost in the woods as a parent.  Can anyone out there relate?

So now I'm choosing to do something about this damaging cycle.  I'm not big on "self help" books because if I knew how to help myself I wouldn't need a stupid book!  So every now and then when I feel like I have lost perspective in a particular area I grab a book on that topic, preferably one with a biblical view on the matter.

A few years ago a very popular book was "The Love Dare" which was inspired by the movie "Fireproof".  The book was a 40 day instructional on how to better love your wife, complete with a daily dare to act out that days lesson.  Well the authors of said book have now released a new book, "The Love Dare for Parents" which appears somewhat inspired by the movie "Courageous".

So I am taking the Dare.  These posts will serve as my journal, if you will.  A way for me to flesh out what I feel and what I learn.  I will journal after each dare and journal the lesson and what the outcome was with my girls.  I am a shift worker and there are days I will only see my girls for a few minutes (literally) so this will be 40 days with my girls, not calendar days.

I have no idea where this will take me, but I know if I am committed it will surely bring me back to the place of answering my calling as a father.  Here we go...