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Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life.
In the paths of the wicked lie thorns and snares, but he who guards his soul stays far from them.
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:4-6
That last verse is familiar to so many: train up a child in the way he should go. Sometimes, though, we take one verse and zoom in on it, missing out on the richer context provided by the verses nearby.
I want my children to know "the way they should go." I want them to love God, honor Him, follow Him, know Him. It's one thing to tell my kids to follow God and to teach verses on obedience and faith. It's one thing to tell them (again and again and again) that God loves them. It's entirely something else to teach them to guard their own souls.
Ellie, of course, isn't quite ready for this kind of discussion. To her the "soul" is the bottom of her shoe. But my sons know they have a soul. They know who the holy spirit is. And they understand - as much as a human can - that Jesus really could be God and man.
Proverbs 22:4, "Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life." Humility, understanding that every good thing comes from God: our skills and abilities, our time, our resources. They are His. We are blessed to have them. Knowing we live, because of him, leads to wealth and honor and life - the kind of wealth, honor and life that we can't imagine ourselves.
Proverbs 22:5, "In the paths of the wicked lie thorns and snares, but he who guards his soul stays far from them." As my children prepare to venture out into the world on their own, I want to protect them more. I see a bad choice and wonder when... when will he realize that this path leads to destruction? When will he realize that this is foolish living? My kids are still kids. I am still training them up. But the clock ticks. Time passes. It is hard to let go.
My dear children, do you know? Do you know that God really, really loves you more than you can begin to imagine? Do you really know that He has an amazing, incredible plan for your life? When I'm not looking - in those quiet times alone - do you talk to Him? Do you ask His advice?
It's my job to train up my children in the way they should go so that when they grow old, they will not depart from it. I pray they understand. Really understand.
The clock ticks. Time passes. It's hard to let go.
3 comments:
You are doing such an amazing job of training up your children. They stand as a testament to all the wonderful goodness that you and Rob pour into them. I too feel the ache with my own and even some insecurity that I started too late, made too many mistakes, but God forgives and God redeems and I put my trust in that but your right, so very right, letting go is so hard.
Love you.
Very nicely said!
My daughter is 26 years old and I still pray that I trained her right.
That it is. And you are just thinking about letting go. When you must actually do it, it will be all the harder. You have taken one good step, however. You know it's coming, and you're prayerfully considering how to proceed. You'll do well and so will your kids!
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