Let me go on the record saying, “I LOVE being a mom!” Sure there have been days when I felt like pulling my hair out. Days when I thought I would never make it through. But overall, I have so loved & enjoyed raising both of my children. I have been blessed to have a close relationship with both of them through the years. There is no one I would rather converse with than either of my children.
And now they are both adults.
This week I had an incident that has caused me to reflect on my child-rearing years. I learned of a young person that has seemed to have lost their roots in God. Their belief system has been clouded. There will never be words to express how this has impacted me. Deception is so hard to detect. It happens slowly, eroding away that which has been deposited in us.
I have been praying for this young person. I have cried as I have asked myself these questions:
- Did I make the most of my years with my children?
- Did I pray for them enough?
- Did I pray with them as often as I should have?
- Did I teach them the importance of Scripture?
- Has my life been a reflection of the love of God?
- Did I instill God’s truth into their lives?
- Did they see that their mother loves God & esteems His Word as her most precious possession?
Do. They. Know?
This morning I am reflecting on this Scripture:
“Fix these words of mine in your hearts & minds; tie them as symbols on your hands & bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home, and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on your door frames of your houses & on your gates, so that your days & the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.” (Deuteronomy 11: 18-21 NIV).
God’s Word is to be fixed or set in our minds so as to be immovable. This not only involves that we be totally committed but that we be resolved, firm in our purpose & intent to stay faithful to our God. The Hebrews attached the words of Moses to their hands & foreheads as symbols, as reminders of how they were to live daily. God is pretty clear that we have a responsibility to teach our children His ways. The best way we can do that is to lead by example. Moses insisted that the people were to teach the children in such ways that God’s Word would never be forgotten. It was to be indelible. Kind of like using a Sharpie pen….
As I have examined myself, I know that my parenting has been covered by His grace. I have found freedom in that. But I have prayed that He would cover my mistakes & somehow use even them to teach my children His ways. I am grateful that He parents them without error. And I know that He is faithful – to me, to them.
