Last year at Rooted, we asked parents to write about one of their favorite Christmas hymns or songs and how it impacted their parenting. A year later, the comforting words of these songs still ring true. We hope these articles bless you and your family as you prepare room for King Jesus!
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day: Parents, Claim the Truth of the Gospel Amidst Hardship by Anne Sanford. “As any parent living through the events of the last year can attest, it often felt easiest to shake my head and claim ‘there is no peace on Earth.’ And yet as I looked in the face of my newborn son, I couldn’t help but hope. I couldn’t help but find joy. It was as if God Himself was speaking the words of that final verse over my spirit: ‘I am not dead. I do not sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on Earth, good-will to men’.”
Jesus, Our Immanuel: Sing The Gospel With Your Family by Luke Paiva. “Let us remember that our God put on our flesh and all that comes with that. He put on growing pains and hunger, not to mention nerve endings that register the pain of burns, bruises, fevers, and every other pain. He did not keep himself from all of our hurt, but fully entered into our suffering in order to rescue us.”
Joy in the Longing: The Timeless Message of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” by Katie Polski. “Ask your teens to tell you about the best gift they could imagine, and then share with them the amazing reality that the greatest present imaginable does not compare with what is in store for God’s children when He comes back and makes all things new again: free from sin, free from pandemics, free from tears and disappointments. This is our future; this is the reason that our longings are never devoid of joy.”
Hear the Angels Sing: Jesus Has Come to Bear Our Burdens by Meredith Exline. “One of the greatest gifts we can give our children is to train them up to bring their own sins and burdens to God in confession and repentance.”
All I Want For Christmas by Becky Paynter. “We will always come back to the truth that there is just one thing that we need, more than we could ever know. And this one thing that we need is not a God who makes our wishes for romance or success or happiness come true – rather, we need a God who loves us so much that He sent His only son into the world to be born as a baby and to die as a man upon a cross, to then rise from the dead and conquer sin forever. He has met our desires for forgiveness and for lasting love!”
A Weary World Rejoices by Tracey Rector. “Our kids may need the reminder that, while these times are certainly challenging, they are not outside the realm of God’s redemption. Sin always leaves us weary because it’s difficult for us to resist the temptation to try and break its chains by our own strength. The weariness we feel today has the same root as the weariness that Jews in Roman-occupied Palestine felt in the first century before Christ was born. Sin has made itself at home in the world, and we humans are powerless to confront it on our own.”
“What Can I Give Him, Poor As I Am?” Parenting When I Feel Inadequate by Clarissa Moll. “We look beyond the material to our children’s hearts. We long for them to know the Savior who has come in lowliness to give us all things. But many days we aren’t sure how to do this “parenting a teen” thing. What can prepare us for the task of shepherding these lives? How do we point our teenagers to Jesus in ways that will form their faith for a lifetime? What of substance can we really give?”
Drumming in the Presence of the King by Amy Bond. “Friend, what sustains me as a parent is the truth that we have a Father whose goodness will prevail because he continues to be faithful and sovereign in all circumstances.”
