Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Book Review: The Ministry of Motherhood, Ch 1

Chapter One Quotes - Out of the Boat - a Model for Grace
Simply quotes that stood out to me. Feel free to share your favorite quotes in the comment section. I'm finding that it takes 10 - 15 minutes to read each chapter.
"He allowed Peter to fail spectacularly so he would finally understand that grace was the key to serving God and his kingdom. Not by his own strength and courage, but only by God's constant grace and mercy would Peter be able to deliver Jesus' message to the world - a message that would then be wrapped in the grace and mercy he had come to know so well." p27
"Each of us is designed by God to whisper his words to the hearts of our children so they will feel the call of God in their own lives to become "fishers of men". Yet we must always remember that our children, like Peter, will never be perfect. Each of them needs for us, like Jesus, to extend to him or her the gift of constant love, grace, and forgiveness. And we can only do this by relying continually on the grace of our own relationship with the Lord." p 28
"...we will live out the definition of grace and love in such a way that our message will be written on their hearts. They will understand that the God who calls them to a great task will STAY WITH THEM as they strive to complete it. . . .And they will know all this in part because of the hands-on grace they have experienced at home." p 28 - my emphasis
"Giving the gift of grace to our children is a two part process. First, we need to help our children receive grace. .....we must train our children to give grace." p 28
"In all this, however, I must acknowledge, as Peter learned, that it's not all up to me. The Author of grace will himself draw my children to him, even as he did Peter, as I rest in his ability to work through the life of my family. Perfection is not a standard he requires of me as a mother, for his grace extends to me as well as to my children. My heartfelt trust in him will be the fuel that energizes my days as I see him draw my children through this gift that will serve them their whole lives. (emphasis mine) p 29.

1 comment:

jennifer said...

The other quote that I have in my notes is "Jesus summed it up when asked which is the greatest commandment. He said we are first to love the Lord God with all our hearts (receiving grace) and then we are to love our neighbors as ourselves (giving grace)." I like this picture of how to give and receive grace... I don't know that I have ever been told this succinctly.