pilgrim.on.a.narrow.way

A slave to the Christ | Wife | Mummy ×2

[Michael Strong @flowidealism]

One of the hardest things I’ve seen in education is trying to re-engage a teenager who has spent years consuming video games, social media, and YouTube slop for hours a day.

At some point, we’re all creatures of habit. A child who becomes completely habituated to dopamine hits through passivity has a much harder time becoming an active learner and thinker.

This is why there is urgency in creating environments where kids become active learners, thinkers, engaged in conversation and positive relationships, with limited digital distractions, as early as possible.

We’ve had transformative conversions from non-thinker to thinker.

But when the light in your child’s eyes begins to go out, don’t wait until they’re on technology 14 hours a day, bored at school, and it becomes hard to recover.

[Mother Grundy @MotherGrundy]

You have to be okay with the idea that God could justly end your life at any minute.

[Mack @kenzietuff]

@dafabbmiss3s Most people are choosing material goods and a lifestyle over their own children.

[Mack @kenzietuff]

Unfathomable to me that people are putting three month olds in daycare. I’d rather live in a van down by the river.

[maddie rune🪰 @themaddierune]

Having children means accepting that your selfish desires are no longer the highest priority in your life. Being a parent means some things are simply no longer about you. I will never gamble with my children's safety for a little personal pleasure, no matter how small the risk. If your good time requires you to bet with someone else's life, especially your child's, then you're not nearly as selfless as you think you are.

[The Transformed Wife 🦋 @godlywomanhood]

Children need full-time mothers who love them more than they love themselves.

[Michael Foster @thisisfoster]

I have noticed a tendency in a lot of people who came from unstable backgrounds. Due to dysfunction or some sort of crisis, they have somehow come to the conclusion that life is supposed to be dramatic. They read Scripture and see all these dramatic stories: dramatic conversions, victories, confrontations. And so they expect this to be an ordinary part of their life, because drama was an ordinary part of their life. Of course, they think of it as bad drama, but now they expect good drama since they have come to Christ.

This, of course, is a misreading of Scripture. Scripture especially highlights crucial moments of God’s dramatic work for and through His people. This would be a crude reduction, so don’t take it too far, but in some ways, it is the highlight reel of God’s work. Most of history isn’t full of disembodied hands writing on the wall, astronomical miracles, or stunning conversions. There are much smaller dramas, but life on the whole is pretty ordinary, punctuated from time to time by so-called life events, whether marriage, a windfall of money, or even a national war. For most people, most of the time, life is day after day of the same thing, of the same struggles. And one of the quests, for the sake of your own soul and the souls under your care, is the quest for stability.

But those addicted to drama develop an allergy to stability to such an extent that they’ll throw their life into crisis. They will legitimately manufacture drama to feel like they are properly engaging with reality. You will see people up and quit stable jobs. Or, when they’re already overwhelmed with life, take on some incredible new responsibility—adoption being a very common form I see. Or involve themselves in some sort of online dispute that they tell themselves is the epic showdown of the ages that will determine the future of our nation. They do this because it feels epic. It feels dramatic. And so instead of pursuing stability, they actually pursue crisis. This becomes almost the genetic fabric of a family. And if you want to break these so-called curses, stability is where it’s at.

People need to stay at the same jobs, stay at the same church, have the same schedule. Embrace ordinary faithfulness. Certainly you’ll find yourself in trials and legitimate crises. There’s no escaping that in this life, and you need to be faithful in those situations. But the dramatic changes you want in your life, in your finances, in your children, are realized through faithfulness in the ordinary. Nothing produces resilient children like a stable home. That could be extrapolated even to churches. The healthiest churches don’t jump from thing to thing, from crisis to crisis. They have a stable way of worshiping and discipling, week in, week out.

Pursue stability. It may not feel dramatic, but over the years and decades, it sure is.

Painting: John Brosio

[John Moody 🇺🇬 @resisfertile]

The norm is.

The norm is spending fourteen years, at an average of 50 hours a week, 36 weeks a year - a startling total of 25200 hours - trapped on school buses and in school and doing homework for the first two decades of life. sundered from one's family, church community and more

The norm is being 15 to 30 pounds over weight by the time you graduate high school. Having your first major health issues in your mid twenties to thirties. Having the hormones of a 50 to 60 years old in your 30s.

The norm is an average of 40 hours per week on media and entertainment, totaling 30,000 HOURS from age 4 to 18.

The norm is first exposure to pornography and similar evils at 8 to 10 years old.

The norm is girls who can't cook but can name and sing every T Swift song, and boys who can't change tires, brakes, and oil, but can speed run every level in Diablo or have built entire worlds on Minecraft while barely understanding the real world they are about to be tossed into.

The norm is roughly 1/4 of the population regularly on prescription drugs, 1/2 take one annually, almost 100% require either prescription or OTC medications every year, and about 1 in 10 are on multiple medications year round.

The norm is not just having no assets when you turn 18, but immediately going into significant debt... and then more debt during or after college for a low value degree, quickly depreciating cars, and overpriced houses.

The norm is after fourteen years of "school," being half as proficient as children from sixty years ago who did significantly less school.

The norm is at graduation, not being able to read, write, nor do mathematics anywhere near grade level, but being multiple grade levels below in each core subject.

The norm is sexual immorality starting in middle school to early high school.

I don't care about what is normal in our day in age.

As you can see, neither should you.

We have normalized the abnormal.

We have simultaneously infantilized our youth, while soaking them in a toxic medium of folly and perversion.

I tell my sons, it has never been easier to be exceptional, and God and me and your mother expect you to be exceptional.

You should look at yourself, and want to be exceptional.

And then, you can help others do likewise.

I see no reason you shouldn't expect the same of yourself, your household, and your children

[John Rosemond @JohnKRosemond]

If parents truly expect children to obey, children will obey. Some parents,
however, instead of expecting their children to obey, only wish they would. This fantasy never comes true. Children are not here to grant their parents’ wishes.

[pilgrim.on.a.narrow.way @lorahflavier]

@jonharris1989 😄 🤣 😂

[Tanya @tanyaelisabethh]

After losing almost 70lbs I have come to realize that you really need to eat way less food than you think

[Natural Law Theonomist 🆗️⚡️🏴 @GuyJones1111]

@resisfertile People don't know this but you can just not eat as much and you'll lose weight.

[Amelia @amelia_tweetz]

I think some parents get so focused on giving their baby a unique name that they forget they’re also naming a future 42-year-old who’s going to have to introduce themselves in a work meeting.

[Summer Jaeger @SummrWrites]

You’re going to have thoughts - might as well have lovely, just, commendable, excellent, praiseworthy ones.

[Mother Grundy @MotherGrundy]

People do not know what they are FOR.

Mothers are for nurturing children.

Fathers are for protecting and providing for mothers and children.

Grandparents are for fortifying the work of mothers and fathers!

[Mother Grundy @MotherGrundy]

Low/high expectation motherhood:

Low expectations because:
I am going to be interrupted
I am going to be interrupted frequently
I am going to be very tired
I am going to have to repeat this instruction
I am going to have to fold this again
I am going to have to wipe this again

High expectations because:
I am going to make an incredible meal for these people
I am going to park the car safely while everyone is talking to me
I am going to explain this algebra
I am going to bake cookies with kids all-in
I am going to superintend everyone raking leaves in the street for neighbours
I am going to join in a loud crazy hymn of praise with this four year old

[Seth Gruber @sgruber91]

Hardest truth for “Christian feminists”:

The matriarchy has been far bloodier and dangerous to the lives of children than the patriarchy ever was or could have been.

[Mike Winger @MikeWingerii]

I will continue to publicly expose Islam for what it is but make no mistake about the fact that every single Muslim (even the most dangerous and faithful to Mohammed) is welcomed with open arms to be loved, forgiven, and saved by Jesus.

Jesus turns his enemies into his brothers.

God save the Muslims from Islam and God save us from the Muslims, who present a true threat to the world and who should be pushed against even while they are evangelized.

[The Transformed Wife 🦋 @godlywomanhood]

"How can you afford a large family?" Do without a lot of things. Buy a small home. Have only one car. Kids share rooms. Eat at home. Buy little clothing and repair instead of replace. Get rid of cable and smart phones if need be. Love your children more than a career and stuff.

[pilgrim.on.a.narrow.way @lorahflavier]

@tradwifetoday Evil