5 Reasons to Make God a Priority in Your Parenting

Do you remember the first time you held a tiny, helpless bundle in your arms, a life—so dependant, so fragile, so beautiful— looking to you for its very survival? In that moment when you first become a parent, the world changes. Suddenly, you know what it means to be willing to die for someone, to protect them no matter the cost. We come to experience, not just understand, unconditional love.

Parenthood is not always easy. In fact, those glowing magical moments where your baby smiles or your teenager says, “I love you” can be few and far between, but the hardest things are often those most worth doing, and the good news is, we don’t have to do it alone.

Father Moon, founder of the Unification faith, says that “God and human beings have a parent-child relationship.” Doesn’t this mean that, as us to our kids, God yearns to connect with us, to love us, and be intimately involved in our lives? There is a natural instinct as parents to want to focus completely on our child, but it’s important to remember that we too are children in the eyes of our Heavenly Parent. Just like any relationship, our relationship with God is one that grows and expands, and continuing to make that relationship a priority in our life doesn’t just benefit us, but our whole family.

Having a relationship with God after we become a parent helps us to remember:

We are in the position of God to our child.

Their first experience of what it means to love will be through us. We are a channel through which God’s love can flow.

That our child is an expression of God.

They are little people with emotions and unique gifts who will grow up into adults with passions and dreams.

We have a partner.

Whatever our failings as a parent— because lets face it, even the most prepared parent will have their fair share— God love’s our children as much and more than we do, and will be guiding their path the same way they have guided ours.

We have a shoulder to cry on.

If anyone understands how hard it is to raise a child, how lonely it can be or how frustrating it is when they don’t listen to your advice, it’s God.

We can never give up.

Over centuries Heavenly Parent has worked tirelessly to be reunited with his and her children. God was there with us, through our many mistakes, through our times of doubt and struggles. As parents, it’s our job to be that soft place for our child to land, no matter how difficult or what circumstances life throws our way, our number one job is to love our child.

Most of all, if we want our children to have a relationship with God, we must lead by example and show them what it looks like to invite God into our lives. How does your relationship with God make you a better parent?