Children Are Our Way of Reloading Life; Give Them The Proper Foundation
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.’ (Proverbs 22:6)
When we are young parents, most ensure their children have the basic needs and in varying degrees those things that make childhood fun. We encourage our kids in scholastic endeavors as well as physical endeavors, such as various sports. All these are part of being a responsible parent, but the one item that is most important is to ensure your children – and by extension your grandchildren – have the moral and Spiritual preparation that can only come from Jesus in the teachings of His Word and His Life.
Children are what we ‘reload’ our lives with; generation after generation parents have children who grow up and then have children of their own. Psalm 127 reminds us ‘your children are like arrows in your quiver’. If you reload, you have to ensure to do it properly, else you may add too much powder and cause an explosion or you add too little and cause a ‘squib’ and bullet can’t escape the barrel (and gets stuck there). Both are serious problems, and if your child doesn’t have the proper Spiritual and moral knowledge instilled, they may either explode into a life of troubles or be a ‘squib’ and never grow and move forward.
I go back to when my wife and I started going to church, to first introduce our children to Christ to provide them a good moral foundation. Our son when he was in elementary school was very troubled in terms of behavior; despite our efforts and the advice of professional medical and behavioral specialists, there was no improvement. Then one day, we discussed that perhaps our son needed to have a moral compass installed, and that was our beginning into searching for a church for them, not me, to attend.
When we found what would be our home church, they began attending and our son responded by having that Spiritual and moral foundation added that he lacked, and our daughter responded as well. I also responded by attending with them. We also were blessed by the Lord providing us that same foundation that we sought for our children. Now, thirty-some years later, we can see the growth of Christ in our son, who after many trials and tribulations is at a point in his life where, in his words, ‘at the best point in <his> life’. The Lord has blessed him with a wonderful wife, and they and their children attend a small Baptist church in Virginia, and he serves in it as part of their music ministry.
Their church (mostly elderly folks) are blessed with their two youngest children in their midst (old folks like babies and toddlers) and our older grandchildren are learning and developing principles to lead them through life. This does not always mean there will never be issues, as while our son is walking with the Lord, our daughter has stepped away. All is not lost, though. I see in our daughter’s life good moral convictions (in spite of some not-so-good decisions) and I am optimistic of her return to the Lord, because of her upbringing in church, having a Biblical understanding implanted within her, and the stability of a church life.
Most of us who live in southwest Florida are ‘seasoned citizens’ are now grandparents; encourage your kids to ‘try Jesus again for the first time’ if they have wandered, or if they have not wandered, praise and encourage them for staying the course in spite of some of their decisions (some of them need to learn the ‘hard’ way versus the ‘easy’ way). Your grandchildren will be blessed by your children’s example that you helped instill in them!
