Training Our Children

Proverbs 22:6 (New International Version)
6 Train [a] a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.


My great aunt was the spiritual leader in our family. She set the tone for our spiritual life and, at least when we were children, we did not stray on inch.

Aunt Bessie had a bit of a temper. But was generally the most fair person I ever met. Her rules were few and simple. God first. Family second and everything else was negotiable, to a point.

We went to church a lot. When we were pre-teens we went to the family church which was Pentecostal. When we got older, our version of rebellion was to join or attend a different church. But we went to church

If you were too sick to go to church on Sunday. You were too sick to do anything except school and work for the rest of the week. No exceptions, and we didn’t bother to ask.
I don’t remember ever being sick on a Sunday, just in case.

Like many who were raised in the church, I had my rebellious years. These were years I wasted intellectualizing about the Word and the need for “organized religion”. These were years when I thought it was my job to judge the preachers out there and make my decisions about my spiritual life based on their perceived short comings.

God has been very patient with me and I am thankful. My life has surely not been the proverbial bed of roses, but I thank God that it has not been what my behavior and flippant mouth earned.

Now, about that early training. When you have been trained in The Way there is a restlessness and discontent without name until you find your way back. You discover a conscience that won’t allow you to stray but so far without a gentle (sometimes not so gentle) tug.

When we are grown up we have an obligation to plant seeds of faith in the young people in our lives.

"And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown." And he replied: 'Go out into the darkness and put your hand in the Hand of God.' That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.'" Minnie Louise Haskins

How will our children know about the Hand of God if we do not teach them?
How will they walk in the assurance of His love?

May God Forever Be A Blessing In Your Life!!!