The Necessity of Reevaluation - Introduction

Reevaluation - determining again the significance, worth or condition of something by careful appraisal and study 

In my last post, I talked about being mindful of the types of seeds we are sowing in our lives and, more specifically, in the lives of our children.  An important part of this process is reevaluating things to make sure they are working well or creating the results you were looking for.  This is how you can be certain that what you think you are planting is growing the way you expected it to!    The main reason for reevaluation is that we are all different and certain things that work well for one person may not work out so well for others.  The exception to this is God's commands, which are obviously good for everyone, but even the implementation of some of these may look different in the lives of different people.  It is important to realize that advice and recommendations of others will usually have to be tailored to your own family and situation in order to work best for you.

For instance, someone may recommend a certain discipline tactic because it worked wonders for their child.  Maybe they used the reward of television time to incentivize their children to do their chores around the house.  You might have tried it out in your home, but your child didn't care about watching television and only wanted time to read their favorite books.  Therefore, the disciplinary action of not allowing any television time in response to the chores not being done did absolutely nothing to encourage your child to do better next time on his chores.  This would obviously call for a reevaluation of things in that area.

Sometimes it can take awhile for things to build up before you realize a situation or current plan requires reevaluation.  I think having a regularly planned time for reevaluation is a great aid in avoiding "crisis situations" where things have gotten so out of hand that it takes a lot of effort to get things back on track.  In this series, I'll be looking at reevaluation in relation to several different areas:

1. Spiritual Life
2. Household Management
3. Homeschooling
4. Family Life

I hope these posts help you look at these areas in your life and see how things need to be tweaked to work well in your specific family, so that you reap eternal life for yourself and your children as they grow.  We want the seeds we are sowing in each of these areas to be things that are pleasing to God and result in a good harvest!  Remember Galatians 6:7-9:

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.  Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary." (NASB)

Check back tomorrow for more about reevaluation in yours and your family's spiritual lives.  Also, please leave a comment with each post if you have found it encouraging or you have specific ideas that have worked well for you which could be shared with others!  I'd love to hear from you!