During Week 6 of Tone Up, we focused on the tone we use with our kids, and more specifically, some strategies for using Scripture in our homes. Here’s the video. Click over to the website if you’re in email.
SO, just as a reminder, be sure to find Scriptures for each of your kids to bring to our live meeting this Thursday. Also, if you want a Letter Verses binder, let me know on the Tone Up Facebook group. Also, I made a Spotify playlist with some of the Letter Verses, which you can follow HERE.
ALSO, I created a page here on the blog with ALL the Tone Up Scriptures. So, if you want access to all of those, click HERE.
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As the weeks have passed, I have found myself wavering in my constancy toward this “tone” thing. My tone last night toward my kids was downright abysmal, which makes me wonder “Is this even WORKING!? Am I making any improvement at all?”
But then this afternoon, there was a mini-miracle. Addie and Dylan got into a fight out by the swing. (That was not the miracle.)
She used first-born silent fury to wrest control of swing territory, and he had a volcanic explosion of wrath, hurling the wooden swing into her ribs and making her cry. He also screamed at her and burst into tears. I literally hid my face in my hands because, it was too terrible to watch. I sent them both to their rooms.
After a few minutes, Dylan came out, shamefacedly. He started asking Jeremy and I when he could be baptized. (We had just seen a baptism at church on Sunday.) Then he said, “I think I have anger issues.”
Y’all, my kid is 8 years old! He went to his room all steamy mad, talked to the Holy Spirit, came out and admitted he had anger problems. He wanted to confess, make things right with his sister, and get his emotions sorted out. He wanted to be baptized because he heard about receiving “an extra measure of grace.”
Something is working and it isn’t me.
Mainly what stands out is that I didn’t actually call him out for yelling (in this particular case), but he knew that the way he acted was wrong. He knew his tone was wrong.
Confession is good for the soul AND is probably the first step toward getting a new direction. If you haven’t admitted to using a wrong tone and you need to do so, start with that. Maybe it is hard to start afresh without squarely confessing that your mouth and tone are dragging you down.
Okay, now that that’s done, let’s talk praise.
During our Week 7 lesson on Thursday, we are going to be discussing the importance of PRAISE. Now praise, is a very spiritual word in many ways and one that we don’t use as often as often in our homes, but I want to talk about how praising GOD in our homes will create a spirit of praise, and ultimately a more encouraging tone, among members of our families. We are actually going to focus on this for two weeks, but the first week we are going to emphasize developing an attitude of praise to the Lord.
Here are a few questions, some of them rhetorical, just to get you started thinking about this.
- Do you receive as much praise as you would like?
- How much (or how little) praise do you think you need?
- Do you feel like you or the members of your family need to EARN praise?
- What tone of voice do you use when you are praising someone in your home?
- Do you regularly “praise” God? One another?
The verses that we are going to memorize for Week 7 are
Isaiah 26:3-4 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal. Song link here.
Psalm 63:1-4 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. Song link here.
I can’t wait to see you all on Thursday!