The first chapter in the Book of Mormon begins with a story of a family, narrated by a teenage son, Nephi. He begins the story by introducing his mom and dad to the reader. Nephi uses two beautiful words to describe them; "goodly parents".
Consider these definitions of the word goodly :
GOOD'LY; (adjective) Being of a handsome form; beautiful; graceful; as a goodly person; goodly raiment; goodly houses. (Websters 1828 Dictionary)
Nephi's parents were considered wealthy. Perhaps he was introducing them as such. Or perhaps his choice of words were meant for something deeper…
A beautiful parallel can be found in the book of Probverbs chapter 22 verse 1:
"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold. (King James Bible)
Perhaps Nephi was emphasizing that their spiritual goodness was far more meaningful to him than their riches. Or perhaps his choice of words was meant for both of these definitions. They certainly both were true.
As you read the story of this family, you will see quite a normal family; sibling rivalry, parental anxiety, weakness, betrayal, forgiveness, heartache and love.
No matter what story we read in the scriptures, if we look deep enough we will find the ultimate example of goodly parenting; how God parents us, his children. He is all-powerful and all-knowing, but his greatness is in his goodness.
This blog is dedicated to discovering the "shame-free" parenting style of our Heavenly Father and Mother, our Eternal Goodly Parents.
As we search the scriptures we will discover their love for us is unconditional and everlasting. Our job as parents is to emulate this kind of parenting to our children. It is not our job to prevent them from making mistakes. It is not our job to make sure they get straight A's. It is not our job to make sure they are always happy and positive. I am going to challenge the phrase "Power in Positive Thinking'. While this may be good advise for some people in some situations, it's an incomplete prescription for all people in all situations. Life isn't meant to always be positive. The truth is, when negative things happen to us, refusing to process the event is extremely damaging and can cause emotional trauma. I would suggest adjusting this popular phrase to instead say : "Power in TRUTHFUL Thinking". The truth is we are created and programed by God to feel all emotions. The positive ones are only meaningful because of the negative ones. Rejecting negative emotions blocks the path from "passing through sorrow to know the good
". This is the very basics of the Law of opposition. As Nephi teaches us in his second book, 2 Nephi chapter 2 verses 11-30 .
Whatever your religious beliefs may be, shame-free parenting is applicable to all of us and desperately needed in our perfection-obsessed culture. I invite you to follow this blog and we begin our search for shame-free parenting in the scriptures. As we find treasures of knowledge, I pray that we will have the courage to dedicate our parenting style to follow the pattern given by our Heavenly Parents.
Feel free to subscribe to this blog if you are interested in following along with us the stories in the scriptures and uncovering the shame-free parenting example given to us by our Heavenly Parents ❤️
Jan 2022 we will begin in the Old Testament
I hope you will come along!
Julie