Gifts for Life

Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. Proverbs 1:8-9

Dad, Mom, do you sometimes feel like you do nothing but instruct and teach your children? Do you feel as though you're just no fun, because all you do is say, "Do this," and, "Don’t do that"? Have you been concerned that your children see you as nothing more than a litany of lessons?

Or maybe you're totally cool with the way you teach your children and I'm the only one who struggles???

I love the wisdom of Solomon in the Proverbs, and the encouragement he gives me in raising children. What if we took to heart what Solomon said in Proverbs 1:8-9? (Go ahead and read the above verse again!) What if we thought of the words we speak to our children - the instruction we give them – as gifts for life?

I'm picturing my children opening a gift I've just given them. Imagining the excitement on their faces as they tear open the paper to see what's inside. And, the sheer joy coming from them as they lift the present from the box to examine it more closely.

Yes, that is how I want them to receive my teaching. I am not speaking to burden them with useless information. My role as their mother is to prepare them for adulthood and I want every word I say to them to be like a gift – given and received with the understanding that it will benefit the one who hears it and believes.

Oh! I think I may have just discovered our next family memory verse. How about you?

~ Karen