Daily Life
Posted on Feb 03, 2008 under Living |Impress [these commandments] on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.Deuteronomy 6:7
I have 6 children, ranging in age from 29 to 11. The way I parented at 20 is very different from the way I parented at 35. I made mistakes and I learned. I learned that it wasn’t enough to take my kids to church on Sunday then behave badly the rest of the week.
It is so important that our children have the opportunity to see us putting into action the lessons we attempt to teach them. If we tell our children that it is wrong to seek revenge on someone, then we must be willing to walk away from the temptation to hurt those who hurt us. It isn’t enough to tell our kids to always tell the truth; they must hear us telling the truth even when it would be easier to fib.
Most important, if we tell our children to treat others as Jesus would, then we must also treat others kindly. Whether that means smiling at the neighbor who calls the police on your children when their ball goes in her yard or refraining from yelling unkind words to the driver who cuts you off in traffic (my personal challenge), behaving in a Christ-like way goes so much farther than simply telling our children how to behave.
Every day, there are opportunities to show our children how a Christian behaves. Every days we are presented with chances to allow our actions to speak to our children. Let’s remember that our children are watching and learning. Let’s teach them constantly, how to live as Christ has instructed us.
