School Days
A Reminder that the Time Does Stand Still
What are You Teaching Your Little Blessings about God?

And they’re off! No, not the horses but what I fondly like to refer to as our little blessings. (Especially when I am at wits end with a large dose of those little blessings when they have an unhealthy attitude). The little blessings I refer to are our children and they’re not off in a race in the literal sense but they are off in a race called another school year.

While replying to an e-mail from a brother in Christ, this past week I mentioned ‘Yikes! My son is going into the 7^th grade and how I remembered those days when it seemed like all eternity before he would be out of diapers and I’d be able to save at what at that time seemed big bucks at the day care. How quickly all eternity has passed.

God in only the way God can, began to lay on my heart how my son is not my child but rather God’s child and how He has  entrusted me as my Father to be a father to this little blessing. I thought of how God the Potter is using me to be a molder of my son’s character in becoming a man of God.

The task seems and at times can be overwhelming. I’ve heard it commented many times on how children didn’t come with an instruction manual. No, they didn’t, not on the date of birth at least. But long before that God gave us one, The Bible. It doesn’t give exact details on how to make them eat veggies, do their homework, take baths and go to bed early, but it does tell us on how to build into them the Word of God, how weren't destroy their self-esteem and words of wisdom on how to raise godly kids.

One of the primary instructions on how to do this is told to us in Deuteronomy 6:4-7

Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you are to be written upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

God is telling us it first begins with us. We are to love God with all our hearts not just when our hearts are feeling sorrow and we have a void to fill. But also when we are reaping the joys of His blessings. We should teach our children all blessings come from God not from anything we do. We do this with all our soul and all our strength. This means even when our souls are more interested in having a quiet time in reading a book or our bodies lack strength after a long day of work or their attitudes have us raging inside with anger to the point we are at or almost in tears. He gives us his commandments and commands us to write them on our hearts. He reminds of this many times through out scripture one such place is Psalms 1:2

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he mediates day and night.

We do this by reading God’s Word daily. It does not mean to only have someone read it to us for an hour on Sunday morning while at church. We are to impress these commandments upon our children while we walk along the road. Though it is easy to cop out saying ‘Ahh, I don’t have time to walk with my child, I’m to busy driving him or her to such and such a place.’ I say ‘Ahh, turn off the car radio and share with them God’s commandments.’ I’m not saying spew the 10 commandments and impress them with your ability to memorize. But apply one of the commandments to an area of your life. For example the 10^th commandment tells us how we are not to covet our neighbors possessions. So when they say something like ‘Gosh darn, I wish we had a nice (fill in the blank) like the Jones. Use it as an opportunity to tell how God blesses in ways other then material things. One of the strongest points God is saying to us in Deuteronomy 6:4-7 is for us to impress a godly character on our children by being godly in our character. Words will only impress so much. It’s the actions that you exhibit that will have the biggest impact.

Words though can have a big and eternal impact when used to hurt. One of the easiest ways to do this is destroy a child’s self-esteem.  In God’s manual on parenting he instructs us in Ephesians 6:4

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. 

To exasperate means to make angry and or annoy. We can do this so easily and not even know it. Words used in a negative way can never be taken back. James writes of a negative tongue in James 1:26

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

No matter how we exhibit Christ like character it only takes a slip of the tongue to undo years of child rearing exhibited in Deuteronomy 6:4-7. I know this one first hand and it wasn’t even really spoken it was only mouthed under my breath but loud enough for my son to hear. Even though this happened when he was 6 and today he is 12, and I have asked for his forgiveness, he still likes to remind me of it when he is angry with me. True, he may only be using it to try and manipulate me to feel guilt; but it is a tool I gave him with a tongue I did not keep a tight rein on.

Words have much more impact upon a child's esteem when we they are words of praise. “Wow, you did it, you were able to come over your fear and light the pilot light on the oven” I recently told my son. He was at home and wanted to make something in the oven while I was at work, but the pilot light was out. I’m certain this won’t be something he will speak of the day he graduates college as being the turning moment in his life, but  the point I’m hoping to make is the building of a child’s esteem comes not just in big accomplishments but little ones. There will be by far many more little accomplishments in a child’s life then major ones. If a child has to wait to hear words of exhortation only when they accomplish major task there may be many a days between the positive words they need to hear daily.

There are many more commandments of instruction in being parents and the molders of our children’s character, but one of simplest is in Proverbs 22:6

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

We as parents can best train our children by training ourselves, by reading God’s Word and sharing it with our children with family devotions. Devotions does not mean sitting down and having all the little blessings gather as dad or mom read from the Bible. Let’s face it most adolescents wouldn’t sit still if you could even get them to sit to begin with. We as parents need to be a little more intentional in finding a family devotion that works for all ages.

Here are a few suggestions;

Josh McDowell's One Year Book of Family Devotions  - Available at ChristianBook.com

Devotions for the Blended Family - Available at Wal*Mart.com

 I think one of the greatest opportunities for family devotions is playing board games.

Check out some board games with a Christian theme available at ChristianBook.com

Other Internet resources for parenting are;

Renewing the Heart – A ministry of Focus on The Family

Or simply do a search on the Internet using the keywords “Family Devotions”

If none of these seem to fit your family then visit a local Christian family bookstore in your area, or check with the children’s ministry of your church for some additional suggestions.

School days are here and schedules will get busy with homework, school activities and your children will be renewing old acquaintances and making new friends. Hopefully your children's teaches will give them a wealth of knowledge that they can apply to their lives down the road. However, the wealthiest and wisest teachings come from God’s word. God has not entrusted you with something you are incapable of doing, but does require a strong does of love and commitment and the acting of those commitments will not come at the most opportune times. Most of them will come at times we don't fill up to it. That is where your faith and obedience to Christ will take over and the best way to do this is through the power of prayer. Though it should go with out saying pray for your children daily but don’t end there pray for the their friends, their friends families and teachers. The time spent with these people will have an influence on your child. 

The task seems overwhelming, but oh what a joy it will be to your ears when you hear those words from the Patter’s hand the Father of all creation. “Well done my good and faithful servant in raising my child to be a child of God”

So What are you teaching your little blessings about God?

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