"The Lifegiving Parent" by Clay and Sally Clarkson completes the "Lifegiving" trilogy that also includes "The Lifegiving Home" and "The Lifegiving Table" by Sally Clarkson. This particular addition focuses on parenting and can easily be read together by spouses, as opposed to others that Sally writes that are specifically geared for women.
If you want to get to the beating heart of being a lifegiving parent, you'll find it in opening your home to the love of God, the light of God, and the life of God. If you faithfully keep the symbolic door, windows, and vents of your home open, then your house will be full of God's love, light, and life. Lifegiving parenting is all about creating a home for your children that is loving, enlightened, and alive with the presence and life of God. (p. 16).
The book presents eight heartbeats of lifegiving parenting, including guarding your child's heart, renewing your child's mind, and cultivating your child's character. These heartbeats help give Christian parents a way to bring the life of God into the home, as opposed to simply exposing children to Christian activities and media. Clay writes the bulk of each particular chapter. Sally offers her reflections in a little section at the end of each chapter called "Momoirs". Each chapter concludes with some tips on how to practically bring each heartbeat into your own home.
I absolutely love everything the Clarksons write. They draw on years of marriage and parenting experience and manage to make everything incredibly relatable. While not everything they have done is practical to implement in my own home, I find my own wheels turning on how I can make things work in ways that suit my own family. This book is an outstanding treasure to add to anyone's parenting collection. As a bonus, they did a podcast series corresponding to the different heartbeats which was enjoyable to listen as I completed the chapters for some added insights.
(I’ve received this complimentary book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for a review. A positive review was not required and the views expressed in my review are strictly my own.)
