Laying the Foundation

“Train up children in the way they should go; when they grow old, they won’t depart from it.” Prov. 22:6 (CEB)

As parents, I’d suggest most of us look back from time to time to when our children were growing up and feel as if we failed in some way. I know I do. Often, I think I should have done this or that more, then again I think about things I should not have let them see me do or say. I hope I’m not in this boat by myself!

In today’s world according to www.baptistnews.com, Children being raised in America today attend church far less frequently than their parents and grandparents did, largely because their parents have stopped attending as adults. Only 9% of Americans say they attend nearly every week. It is shocking to see this in print, making it much more real than I had considered.

Our church is so fortunate to have Christian parents bringing their children to church and having them involved in various activities. This however is not the only Christian education that is needed – the children must see this in action and deed at home. Teaching our children begins in the home and is supported by church attendance.

It touches my heart when my grandson Bryson is always ready to say the blessing or says AMEN! when Pastor Robby finishes his prayer. Brooks and I went to church with our granddaughter Amelia and her parents this past Sunday. When I saw her kneeling with her little hands folded in prayer and head bowed it put a lump in my throat. I am thankful for my children and their spouses bringing up my grandchildren in church and teaching them at home. The knowledge too, that my grown children know it is important to do so tells me I must have done at least one thing right!

We are required by the Word to, “Place these words I’m speaking on your heart and in your very being. Tie them on your hand as a sign. They should be on your forehead as a symbol. Teach them to your children, by talking about them when you are sitting around your house and when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are getting up. Write them on your house’s doorframes and on your city’s gates. Do all that so your days and your children’s days on the fertile land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors are many – indeed, as many as the number of days that the sky’s been over the earth.!” Deuteronomy 11:18-21 (CEB)

As parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, we owe it to the children to do just as Deborah Ann Belka’s poem directs:

Teach them to love God, with all their heart and soul, let them know Jesus died so they’d be complete and whole. Teach them not just on Sundays, but each and everday . . .