"Trying out the child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."--Proverbs 22:6
Years ago I visited a friend whose hobby was horticulture studies (which he insists is much more then mere gardening). At the entrance of his home was a small tree I didn't recognize. "What's that?" i asked. "a weeping cherry tree," he Responded. Surprised, I said, "I heard of a weeping willow but not a weeping cherry tree. Don't the branches of a cherry tree grow straight up? These are hanging down."
My friend then proceeded to explain how he caused the trees branches to turn downward. When the tree was just a Sappling, he split the trunk, turn one side upside down, and fused the two pieces back together. He explained that this confused the trees "Internal thinking," so that later on when it "thought" it was growing up, it was really growing down.
That happens with children too. Sometimes through the bad influence of peers, authority figures, and even carnally minded parents, a child's thinking get "twisted" around at an early age. Consequently these individuals often equate adult hood with sensual indulgence and sinful excess. As they get older, they tend to mimic that behavior. The sad truth is that when they think they are finally growing up, they are actually growing down.
Of course, if the negative is true, the positive is true also. Good role models persist for a lifetime. Parents who have good, moral lives are training their children by example. They are guarding their offspring with a lasting impression of the truth which will cause them to grow up healthy and normal. Yes, we need to train the minds of our children in biblical truths and moral laws, but more than that, we need to live those truths and laws before their impressionable eyes every day.
PRAYER DECLARATION
Lord God, when you came to earth, you trained us by sharing many truths that challenge the world's way of doing things. But more than that, you lived out those concepts before us. Help me to properly train my children, not only in words but also with my example. Let both leave a lasting impression on my children's heart and mind, so that when they are grown they will not depart from the right way of living. I claim this promise and expect it to come to pass.
In the mighty name of Jesus, amen ( LET IT BE SO)
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