I can’t drag my children to the cross. I mean, I could, but it would be rather like leading a horse to water.... you can't *make* him drink. I can only pull back the bracken on this narrow path and point out the sunlight that breaks through to bathe the terrain up ahead. I can only outline the hidden snares and traps that lay waiting on that “other” path whose mouth lays yawing wide and inviting. I can only show them the road map and urge them to plot their way carefully before they take a single step.
When I think about equipping the souls of our children I think about all that we do for them on a daily basis to ensure their health and well being. We ensure they brush their teeth twice a day, so their teeth don’t rot. We plug them with vitamins and healthy foods so that they will flourish physically. We make them complete their homework and read chapters from assigned readers for the sake of their education. We truck them around faithfully to sports and music practices so that they can learn new skills and sportsmanship. And we plant God’s word in their hearts so that their souls can flourish.
Can someone tell me why it is that we would never dream of letting them go a week without brushing their teeth and yet when it comes to this daily dose of medicine for the soul we so often drop the ball? I was talking to a friend the other day and she shared very honestly that “she just didn’t want her kids to find it a chore.” I understand this. I really do. We want our kids to have a passion for the Lord and not just go to Him out of “duty”. I nodded sympathetically. But then later I got to thinking.
Everything in life is a chore. Sometimes it’s a chore to get packed up for a holiday. But I’d sure hate to miss the holiday because I refused to do the groundwork to get myself there. It’s a chore to be married, to be a parent, to be in any relationship. We need to learn to sacrifice, to love others above self, to give of ourselves in ways that cost.
If I don’t have this attitude toward my relationship with the Lord I am robbing myself of the greatest benefits that are offered to me in this life. If I don’t first invest in the “chore” of taking time to sit and listen, to open my eyes and spill my guts with Him then I am missing out on the fundamental purpose of my existence.
If I don’t put Him first then everything else in my life will be out of kilter. And if I don’t teach my kids to do the same then I am robbing them of the greatest blessings any “chore” ever offered.
I’m thankful that we did the “chore” of reading the bible to our kids on a daily basis from when they were very young. Now that our daughters are 9 and 7 they can’t go to sleep without reading a chapter (or at least a subsection of a chapter) before going to sleep. What started out as “chore” is now a natural part of their daily routine, and I see them reaping the benefits. I see it in my own life.
On Sunday we were blessed to have some bible college students come and do the service at our church. They had committed the whole of 1 John to memory and they recited it to us in conversational tone in a modern translation. It was very moving. Once before a girl from our church memorized and recited the entire book of Galatians, and it was the same, so eye opening.
Today I feel challenged to go deeper. To commit to not just reading His word daily, and ensuring our kids do too, but memorizing scripture together as a family. No sooner did I start considering this and Psalm 119 came to mind. Yeah, I know. It only happens to be the LONGEST chapter in the bible, but interestingly enough, when I turned to it this morning I was blown away. It is right in the heart of scripture, smack dab in the centre, and I think it outlines the heart of the matter better than any other chapter I can think of. I read it this morning for my quiet time with a palpitating heart and the following verses just jumped right off the pages at me. I am so excited to start memorizing this chapter! I am going to start praying for a revival to sweep my community and indeed this entire continent where the hearts of both parents and subsequently their children will be turned to and fixed upon His wonderful Word.
How can a young person live a pure life? By obeying Your Word. v9
I have taken Your words to heart so I would not sin against You. V11
My lips tell about all the things you have spoken. v13
I think about your orders and study Your ways. v15
I enjoy obeying Your demands and will not forget Your word. v16
Open my eyes to see the miracles in Your teachings. v18
I wear myself out with desire for Your laws all the time. v20
…those who ignore Your commands are cursed. v21
Your rules give me pleasure, they give me good advice. v24
Help me understand Your orders. Then I will think about your miracles. v27
Lord, teach me Your demands, and I will keep them until the end. v33
Help me understand, so I can keep Your teachings, obeying them with all my heart. v34
Lead me in the paths of Your commands because that makes me happy. 35
Make me want to keep Your rules instead of wishing for riches. v36
Keep me from looking at worthless things. Let me live by Your word. v37
I will discuss Your rules with kings and will not be ashamed. v46
I praise Your commands, which I love and I think about Your demands. v48
I remember Your laws from long ago and they comfort me, Lord. v52
It was good for me to suffer so I would learn Your demands. v71
Your teachings are worth more to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver. v72
I will never forget Your orders because You have given me life by them. v93
How I love Your teachings! I think about them all day long. v97
I am wiser than all my teachers, because I think about Your rules. v99
Your word is like a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. v105
You reject those who ignore Your demands, because their lies mislead them. v118
Learning Your words gives wisdom and understanding for the foolish. v130
Those who love Your teachings will find true peace, and nothing will defeat them. v165
18 comments:
Thanks for this. This is exactly where I am... wanting to stay on track, keep God absolutely first, share Him with my kids, hide His word in my heart(& my children's) & be ready to witness about Him to a needy soul whenever He leads me. We just had an awesome revival at Church this last week and I mean awesome!!! My six year old even cried during the last service because he didn't want him to leave. Talk about a blessing :-)! Anyway, he challenged us to pray and to win souls for the kingdom, something I have only done once. I want the Lord to use me to win the lost around me, what do we think we are here for anyway? Some of the first souls on my list are, of course, my children but I see now that I need to broaden that list greatly. Prairie Chick thankyou so much for sharing things that send out hearts searching for the best in this life! Some of this may not make sense but I don't have time to go back and re-word things. Have a blessed day!!! Leanne
My dear sweet soul searching young friend. It does my heart good to hear a young Mom pour out her soul concerning her children. I grew up without any Christian teaching in the home. I was drawn to him (part of his plan for me...opening his arms to a fatherless child) I went to every church youth thing possible, then to a Christain College. My children were SOOOO raised in the church it would take to long to explain. Oldest son...very smart...deep thinker...at about seventeen decides he didn't believe anymore because it was our religion...he had to find his own way. He did...became a minister....but then needed to move on and try some other things. He (and many in his age group) don't care for the big churches and all the trappings. They have a home study group. As the mom (yes sweetie, even at 56, you will still be praying for and holding your babies out to Jesus) I worry about him. Then I stop myself because I seem to hear a voice saying, "It's between me and him now. You did your job."
This sounds more negitive than I meant it to. I guess I was thinking on paper. You were so right....you can't drag them to the cross (by the way I used that line in a talk I gave one time :o) you can raise them the way you think will lead them to a growing relationship with God and ask him to do the rest.
Of course you will memorize. You go girl. Have you heard of Bible Bowl? A club for children called Awanas?
Thanks for sharing your story Grammy, and you too Leanne.
I didn't mean this to sound like a legalistic "we are going to memorize scripture so my children never go astray" type post. And I certainly don't have any grandiose plans to memorize entire chapters in a week or a month, I'm thinking more of regular and thoughtful meditation on one verse at a time, building up a spiritual armory over time. I wouldn't care if it took us a year or even longer to learn this chapter, but just am looking forward to taking the moment to pause and let a verse seep into our souls each day.
We truly can't drag our kids to the cross. But we can keep fix the image of it clearly in their minds and hearts.
Somedays, I could crumple into my chair for wishing we lived closer. Alas, I think this is IT...
Oh well,...and once again, we are mulling over the same thought lines. I confess, I agree with your friend's admission, and with some remorse however. I do well with the "encouragement and leading" part for a bit, then forget it until they say or do something that strikes a chord in my heart. Like "we need to discuss such and such a little more I see!"... etc. You are so right, wouldn't forget to wash their clothes or feed them food, or brush teeth, but why forgetting the Reason For Being??? Argh. Firstly, I guess we too need the habit to be present, we too lead by example and need to pray for it to become that second nature. And you hit it on the head, don't you love it when you see the results just drop in your lap some days? Then you know it's NOT worth forgetting.
LYB.
M-Bear, you know I adore you and consider you one of my bestest friends despite the distance just because of the uncanniness of all we have in common.
I also wanted to emphasize that I *know* our relationship with the Lord is not measured according to how much time we spend in the Word, He is ever present, living and speaking outside of those pages, but at the same time, I do think it is telling if we have this wealth of love letters from Him that are telling us all He has planned for us and revealing how much He loves us and desires good things for us.... if we have all that and rather than setting our hearts aflutter they sit on a shelf collecting dust.
That's all I'm saying. I have gone through long seasons in life where that has been the case. Where lack of discipline slowly dragged me away on the current of apathy. Discipline is not a dirty word. Practicing spiritual disciplines gets us in shape so that we can live life to the utmost, feasting on him, and coasting in His goodness.
I want my kids to see that. That even when we don't FEEL like doing something, we do it because it is the right thing to do and it is good for us.
mulling and meditating...
;)
There is nothing I can express that has not been well said in earlier comments, but I have to respond in agreement. I'll come back to this post, Prairie Chick.
What a great post... one that encourages me to keep trudging on, even when I do not feel like it. This year I have made it a priority to make sure we have morning devotions before we leave the house for anything, and on morning when we have places to go I tend to do pretty good, we have devotions even if it is going to make us late.
However, it seems to be the days when we have no schedule and no where to go that I slack off. I think, oh, let me start this load of clothes and then we will have devotions, and it keeps getting put off until the day is over and then I feel bad... why do I do that, on the days that we have time to sit and have a longer devotion time. It just doesn't make sense... you have encouraged me to do better on those days!
And we do memorize scripture, my boys seem to be able to memorize so easily. We have a verse each week with Awanas, a wonderful program, we have a verse each week with our home devotions, and we are usually working on a longer portion... currently Psalm 121. This Psalm has special meaning to our family so we wanted our boys to commit it to memory. They have also learned Psalm 23, the Lord's Prayer, and the "love" portion of 1 Corinthians 13 (from which I have a funny story... one day David hit Paul, and Paul said, "David love is patient, love is kind, and THAT was not kind!" I just thought that was so funny!)
Anyway, thanks so much for sharing your heart and encouraging us to keep on keeping on... it will bear fruit one day! I may just have to start Psalm 119 next... it really speaks to my heart and has such great truths they need in their hearts...
Blessings!
still thinking... do we fear falling into legalism and empty ritual that is habitual but holds no passion? I *get* that. But then what is the solution? To drop a habit alltogether and release it of its importance? I'm trying to think of this in terms of a marriage relationship. Do I view as legalism the "set time" P-guy and I have for taking 15 minutes alone, to greet and converse with one another when he gets home?
Sure, it's not spontaneous, but we've come to expect it, and it does us both good, so spontaneity be danged, why wouldn't we?
It's true that anything can become stagnant and need a change in order to keep it's freshness. I am not one to need to have my quiet time at one set time, in one set place, but I am the kind to say that it is going to happen, sometime, someway, in my day. I love what you said, M-bear. If I can get the laundry done and put food on the table and brush my teeth EVERY DAY, I can certainly take a few minutes to reflect on His word.
its freshness....
This post is wonderful! My children are already grown up and I didn't become a Christian until about 8 years ago. I wish I had the chance to do it all over again as far as raising up my children each day to read through scriptures, memorization of verses, having daily devotionals, etc. I was raised Catholic and so were my children, but my son is the one who brought me to the Christian way of life, and since that time, he has strayed. I continue to pray to the Lord for him to come back to what he felt then and I'm working on my daughter. I am certainly trying to teach her all that I know now so that she, in turn, can teach her little children. I'm still trying to be diligent in everyday reading of the scriptures myself and I pray to the Lord each day to increase my memorization skills because they are a little rusty. I agree with you Prairie Chick, there has to be a time set aside each day to dig into the Word, and our children, those who still have little ones to raise, need to get into the habit of digging into it each day as well. It is a parent's obligation to see that their children are raised up higher and higher and higher into the calling of our Lord.
What an in-depth post. I just love you Prairie Chick and I love coming here to read and still learn.
Peace,
Alleluiabelle
Great, great thoughts. thank you.
Hit the nail on the head. Think I'll go have my QT now.
Good Morning!
I wanted to pop back in for a visit. Thanks for your sweet comments. I think I've found another kindred spirit.
Blessings to you!
I delight in reading His word. It is a part of my blessed morning-time of tea and gazing out the window and praying -- and I find myself picking up my chairside copy throughout the day as I sit for a spell. I have always loved it and my children have fallen in love with God/Christ just as naturally. My husband grew up in a strict environment where salvation became a "task" at age 5 while kneeling under father's watchful eye in the living room. Does my husband consider that his spirtual birth date? NO! (But his dad did.) Like all my teaching, I lead. It has worked beautifully for us. For others I cannot say . . .
I encourage you to soak deeply in your time with Him, and lead your children to the soaking pool as well. They will find pure JOY, as have you (though it may not come "easy" -- what of value is easy and not cheap?).
I always enjoy walking alongside as you chatter on your journey. I process so much that comes to my eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and heart. I have found that you do it too. Kindreds on the pathway will always find reason to stop and celebrate the moment. I celebrate with you!
Wow, what a wonderful post, P.C.! So much along the lines of what I have been thinking about lately. What amazing verses, many of which are familiar to me but somehow I never fully realized that they were all in the same chapter. This is gonna be awesome for you I hope... I too am memorizing and find it to be a challenge but the rewards that come with it are so worth it. It's been real interesting to read all the comments and your responses to them. I agree with what you've said about legalism... I like to think of what I am doing as spiritual discipline...which I believe is so important.
Loved this! It is so true. Many days it is still a "chore" to me as well, but it is always worth it in the end.
Which version did you quote from? I love its accessibility for children.
This was such an excellent post--habit is the foundation for so many blessings in life, and it's good to learn that early so it is ingrained in being.
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