Online Sermons
Lesson #25 - Nesting Irregularities
Series: Home-BuildersLESSON #25 – NESTING IRREGULARITIES
INTRODUCTION
What has become rather customary in American homes in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is now being tested.
Do you have nesting issues in your household?
Some struggle with empty-nest syndrome. Others struggle with a house continually occupied by young-adult children.
WHO MADE THE RULES?
The Scriptures do not speak decisively as to how long a “child” should be under the care and feeding of his or her parents.
Some marry and begin their own household.
Gen.2:24 seems to imply that it was “normal” for newlyweds to leave their fathers and mothers.
Some marry and take up residence with mom and dad.
Is it ever okay for two families to live under one roof?
Typically, such may be a stop-gap measure, but for some it may be doable on a long-term basis.
Some do not marry and continue to live with their parents.
Jesus did not marry and we have no evidence indicating that He did not live with His parents.
Although born in Bethlehem (Lk.2:4f), Jesus grew up in Nazareth (Mt.2:23 and Lk.2:51).
Mt.13:54 and Mk.6:1-3 refer to Nazareth as Jesus' home town.
Tradition may indicate that Jesus' father died early and that Jesus lived with His mother.
Jesus began His ministry at the age of 30 (Lk.3:23) and apparently lived elsewhere during part of His ministry.
Mt.4:13 / leaving Nazareth, (Jesus) came and settled in Capernaum.
THE PAIN OF AN EMPTY-NEST
Some parents feel pain when their child(ren) leave home?
Realistically, the role of parents is to prepare children to leave home, but emotionally this can bring heartache.
LPC Brian MaCallum notes: The range of feelings include grief, anxiety, depression, regret, insecurity,emptiness,
loneliness, even loss of purpose/meaning/identity, or an acute awareness of one's mortality and the aging process...
THE CHALLENGE OF A FULL HOUSE
After many years of child-rearing is it wrong for parents to relish a newfound freedom?
Is it good to encourage your children to leave the nest and fly on their own?
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION?
1. True or false - - “once a parent, always a parent”?
2. What word best describes your feelings when your children left the nest -- Letdown…Joy…Something in between?
3. Do husbands & wives sometimes become so child-centered, that their marriage suffers when the children leave home?
Divorce rates increase by 16% for those married 30 years or longer.
Have you known a couple who divorced after the kids left home?
4. What can husbands and wives do to prepare for life after kids?
How important is it to keep a good thing growing during the child-rearing days?
5. How can empty-nest couples alleviate “the potential void”?
Return to the workforce … Volunteer … Develop new hobbies … Rekindle relationship with your spouse …
Keep a journal (gratitude log) … Talk to others about your heartache … Rejuvenate your spirit life.
