Monday, May 18, 2009

Proverbs 22:6 Ponderings

Have you ever read a verse so many times that it kinda becomes a recording in your head?
I had an "aha" moment while on the phone with a friend recently and it made me think of child training in a whole new light.


"Train up a Child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

That is probably one of, if not the, most popular verses used in all the child training books, magazines and pamphlets I have ever read. It teaches us to "train up" our children in "the Way" they should go, and almost promises that when he is old, he will not depart from it. Simple, right?
So we train up our kids and do our best to teach them " the Way". But what happens when our sons and daughters still don't come out right?
We will ask ourselves, " What did we do wrong?" or " What did we do differently with our other children that we didn't do with this one? This child that breaks our heart and gives us such grief?"

I have seen many families that have a child that choose a different "way" to go. The wrong way.
We need to pray,fervently, for these children.

And that's when the light came on in my mind!
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Not older. Like 8 or 12 or even 25 but old.

Old.

Hmmmm.



And it gives me, and other mothers who have been enlightened by this, great hope.

I myself have lived it. I did not go in "the way" when I was a teenager/ young adult, but praise the Lord I have come back to it! I have been forgiven and found peace with my Savior.

I guess what my point was in this post was to not grow weary or faint when it comes to child training.
We may not see the fruit right away, but know that the seed has been planted.


Let me know what your thoughts are.






Run Away!!!!

Recently, Alena and Olivia were out in the backyard "playing" and I could hear Olivia hollering. As I got to the back door, Alena was coming and and she says to herself, " Oh, this is so much fun!".

Knowing Alena like I do I asked her, while she rummaged through the junk drawer, what she was doing to her sister and she said they were "playing".

I made her look me straight in the eyes and asked her again what she had done to make her sister yell. With down cast eyes ( and a mischievous smirk) she said she had tied her up with kite string to the swing set!!

So I let her take the safety scissors outside to free her captive and all is well, or so I think.

A few hours later I am brushing Olivia's hair because we are headed out and (gasp) there is a chunk missing from her bangs. " Did you cut your hair?", I ask her.
"No! Alena did!" she says.
"Well, why didn't you run away from her?", was my obvious question.
And the best answer ever....

"I couldn't, I was tied up!!!" she explains.