A Quiz:

NURTURE: to feed and protect: to nurture one's offspring.

to support and encourage, as during the period of training or development; foster:as in to nurture promising; to bring up, train, educate; to nourish; to promote the development of; to cultivate

Here are some questions to spur our thinking about how we can nurture our families. This is not a test. These are just questions that are helpful to ask oneself:

1) If I am married, how prepared was I to become a wife(and mother, if applicable)? What have I learned during my years of marriage? Of motherhood? Am I passing practical skills and also my heart for my home along to my children? What about to young ladies outside of my home?
2) If I am married, what do I need to learn now to be a better wife and mother? Whether I was prepared to step into the role of a keeper of the home or whether I wasn't, how can I improve? Are there older women and peers I can look to as role models? Do I know someone who has a gift for nurturing others? How does she do it?
3) If I am not married, what do I need to learn to either serve God as a single woman or to prepare myself for marriage and family? How can I nurture families around me? What children in my immediate family, extended family, or outside my fammily can I become a "favorite aunt" to? Do I have a gift for seeing good in others, even if it seems hidden, and do I have a way of encouraging others to flourish?
4) Am I warm and nurturing by nature? If so, how can I grow even more in these qualities? If I am not a natural nurturer, how can I learn to be more nurturing? Some women have to work harder at this than others do, but we can all grow in this.
5) While men and women may express the quality of nurturing differently, they are both called to be nurturers. How am I training my sons to notice the needs of others and to influence others?
6) Do I nourish my husband? Do I love him, respect him, and bring out the best in him? Do I see and encourage his best qualities? Do I follow his lead and work with him, rather than pulling against him? Am I positive or negative in my conversation toward him?
7) Do I nourish my own spiritual life? Do I have set times for prayer and reading the Bible? Do I take time to be quiet with the Lord? Do I nourish my physical health and appearance -- not obsessively, but in order to feel my best? Do I nourish my mind and heart?

Enjoy!