Who is teaching Your Children, and What are they being taught?
Even when families remain intact, moral instruction is not automatic. A public school survey in Maryland showed that parents spent an average of 15 minutes a week in “meaningful dialogue” with their children–children who are left to glean whatever values they can from peers and TV.
Senator Dan Coates, Imprimis, Vol. 20, #9, September, 1991
Deut 11: 18 ¶ Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
Thank God for teachers, who can help us to teach our children, reading, writing, and arithmetic. Thank God for great churches, Sunday school teachers and children’s pastors, to help us raise our children in the Word of God, and give them a place to serve God. In today’s broken world, sometimes real teachers get to step into this parental role, in love: http://www.bestthings.co/teddy-stoddard/
Yet, the primary responsibility for teaching, training, equipping, our children, is with us, their parents.
Which means, it is not the church’s responsibility, not the schools, not their friends, peers, or coaches, it is ours, the parents.
I read this and it resonates within me:
No Time to Play
My precious boy with the golden hair
Came up one day beside my chair
And fell upon his bended knee
And said, “Oh, Mommy, please play with me!”
I said, “Not now, go on and play;
I’ve got so much to do today.”
He smiled through tears in eyes so blue
When I said, “We’ll play when I get through.”
But the chores lasted all through the day
And I never did find time to play.
When supper was over and dishes done,
I was much too tired for my little son.
I tucked him in and kissed his cheek
And watched my angel fall asleep.
As I tossed and turned upon my bed,
Those words kept ringing in my head,
“Not now, son, go on and play,
I’ve got so much to do today.”
I fell asleep and in a minute’s span,
My little boy is a full-grown man.
No toys are there to clutter the floor;
No dirty fingerprints on the door;
No snacks to fix; no tears to dry;
The rooms just echo my lonely sigh.
And now I’ve got the time to play;
But my precious boy is gone away.
I awoke myself with a pitiful scream
And realized it was just a dream
For across the room in his little bed,
Lay my curly-haired boy, the sleepy-head.
My work will wait ’till another day
For now I must find some time to play.
Dianna (Mrs. Joe) Neal.
Nuff said. Gotta stay faithful. They are our future, and the future leaders of our countries, if we raise them right. The Word of God will grow, strengthen, and instruct them in discerning right from wrong.
Each day, I treat the privilege of the time I have with my children as a wonderful gift from God. Each day is like Christmas, where I wake up to open a beautiful gift. The gift, the wonderful blossoming of my children day by day, in the grace of God, in understanding, in love….
Let us learn to play with our children…
Let’s pray:
‘Father, help us to be, and become the parents our children need. I trust you Jesus, to fill any gaps in my family or extended family with your presence, and the power of the Holy Spirit, as you give us grace to love them and train them in the Word of God in this, my generation, Amen’
