be strong and of a good courage

Joshua 1:9
"Have not I commanded thee?  Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed:  for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

This scripture was quoted recently in a talk on courageous parenting.  It takes courage to be a good parent!  I love this part of the talk:

"In these last days, what the world really needs is courageous parenting from mothers and fathers who are not afraid to speak up and take a stand.  Imagine for a moment that your daughter was sitting on the railroad tracks and you heard the train whistle blowing. Would you warn her to get off the tracks? Or would you hesitate, worried that she might think you were being overprotective? If she ignored your warning, would you quickly move her to a safe place? Of course you would! Your love for your daughter would override all other considerations. You would value her life more than her temporary goodwill.  Challenges and temptations are coming at our teenagers with the speed and power of a freight train. As we are reminded in the family proclamation, parents are responsible for the protection of their children.  That means spiritually as well as physically."

The talk was focused on being courageous in parenting teenagers, but it also takes courage to choose how we as parents spend our time with our little ones. I'm trying to be more aware of that and have the courage to sacrifice some of my daily tasks for spending time with my boys.  I like this from the talk as well:

"It takes courage to gather children from whatever they’re doing and kneel together as a family. It takes courage to turn off the television and the computer and to guide your family through the pages of the scriptures every day. It takes courage to turn down other invitations on Monday night so that you can reserve that evening for your family. It takes courage and willpower to avoid overscheduling so that your family can be home for dinner."

Be courageous!