If freedom is to survive and prosper, it will require the sacrifice, the effort and the thoughtful attention of every citizen.
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) was the 35th President of the United States.
From Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
The headlines read of child pornography, drugs, alcohol, depression, teen-age suicide, murder, abuse and much, much more! Sometimes, we might feel that if we don’t read the newspapers or listen to news reports, we can forget those things are there. We would like them to go away. We would like to forget they exist. Unfortunately, we know they won’t go away, and our hearts are sickened by that painful truth. How are these horrible realities affecting the lives of our precious children? They are not only in the high schools. You can find them in elementary schools, day care facilities, and on street corners everywhere. It breaks my heart to read of the young victims held in the clutches of such evils. More than that, it makes me angry!
The Word of God tells us to be angry and sin not! We should be angry at the evils around our children. These children are a gift from God, but the gift was not free. It came with a price tag of awesome responsibility. How foolish is the parent who takes that responsibility lightly. We are in a battle against Satan. If God is to control our children’s lives when they become adults, we must train them as children. We cannot handle their lives as though they are nothing but toys or play things, and expect God to let us off without answering for it. Our children must be armed for battle by knowing God and His Word. Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness by using Scripture, and we have the power to do the same! How can we allow our children to go out into this worldly battle unarmed? We must teach them what is right, and show them how to have the strength to stand up for it.
A dear friend of mine has shared something very special with me. She also wonders about the effects of the evils of this world on her children. She has always prayed for their lives each day. Since it has become a burden in her heart, she has started praying for their children’s safe future before she goes to bed at night. She goes into their room after they’re asleep, and places her hand on them as she prays. As you touch the child you brought into this world, how can you not feel the great responsibility to pray for their health, their school years, and their adult lives? I challenge you to do this for your children!
It takes an awesome commitment to be a parent; to pray for them at night, to teach them each day, and to live what you teach. Without that commitment, will your child become one of the statistics?
Oh Father, help me feel the burden of responsibility for my children’s lives. Help me to be faithful to pray and teach each one in the way they should go. Show me today where I’ve failed as a parent in the past. Forgive me when I take this position lightly. Help me to live a life that is consistent with what I teach. Father, use my children for Your glory, that Jesus may be seen in them. Amen.
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This devotion is written by my wife, Colleen. It is taken from the contents of her book, BITS ‘N’ PIECES OF MY HEART. Inspired by her own Christian faith and a mother’s love for her daughters, Colleen’s writings feature short stories, devotions, and poetry. These are intended for reading by adults and teens. The final two sections of the book share her inventory of activities and songs to enjoy with young children. Her book is available online at your favorite outlet.
Daughter plays all day
Riding Dad’s motorcycle—
Up for excitement
Mall’s escalator
Roller-coaster up, then down—
Child’s favorite ride
One more dollar, please?
Loving Dad empties wallet—
Grinch on vacation
Many adults feel that every children’s book has to teach them something. My theory is a children’s book can be just for fun.
Sometimes to helps to scold yourself, to yourself advice.
R. L. (Robert Lawrence) Stine (born 1943) is an American author who hails from Columbus, Ohio. His specialty is fiction for children and young adults.
Empathy, a parent’s ability to understand what a child is feeling, is an important and valuable ingredient of child rearing.
It is said that nature always sides with the hidden flaw. Teachers have the opposite role; to side with the hidden asset, to minimize a child’s deficiencies, intensify his experience, and enlarge his life.
Haim Ginott (1922-1973) was an Israeli-born school teacher and child psychologist. He pioneered techniques about how to converse with children.
Ice cream bell ringing?
Memory bank mistaken—
Trolley car coming
Engineer at work
Oops . . . building blocks falling down—
Right back to square one
Swallowing loose tooth
What about the Tooth Fairy?
Dreams filled with magic
Many children delight in the small and inconspicuous.
Every mystery solved brings us to the threshold of a greater one.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was an American marine biologist, conservationist, and writer. Many of her writings helped to advance the global environmental movement.
From Matthew 21:14-16: “The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He cured them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that He did and heard the children crying out in the temple and saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they became angry and said to Him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read, Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself?'”
“Please, Mommy, please! Can we listen to our records? Heather and I want to listen to a record. We don’t want to watch what’s on TV. We want to listen to records!” As I flipped through the TV stations, Taryn was jumping up and down, pulling on my arm. Heather was following her lead. They were trying to persuade me to listen to their favorite records rather than watch TV. From songs they had learned in Sunday School, they both loved listening to and singing them.
There was no way I could refuse their pleading! They were learning the lesson I’d been trying to teach them. Today, they were teaching me! There are so many more interesting and fun things to do than watch TV all day. I realized Satan is using the television more and more in the world every day. It’s become one of the main vehicles to share deception and trickery. The violence, suggestive language, actions, vanity, and other worldly issues we are shown can attack our families in very subtle ways. As these have eased themselves onto the screen and into our minds, we’ve found ourselves becoming used to them. We accept them without a fight. Things that would have upset us five or ten years ago are seen in homes every day without a thought.
God tells us to think on things that are honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. Our children must be brought up with this attitude instilled in their minds. To ignore what they watch on television is a tragic mistake. When we allow them to see cartoons or other shows filled with violence, hatred, magic, or witchcraft, we are falling short of the teaching in God’s Word. If this garbage Satan 23 is dumping on our children continually invades their minds, what effect will it have on them next week, next year, or five years from now?
What a precious reminder Taryn and Heather had given me! I praised God for the wisdom of my children as we sang the songs on their record that morning. They smiled back at me as we sang, “I am a promise. I am a possibility. I am a promise. I can be anything, anything God wants me to be.”
This devotional post is written by my wife, Colleen. It is taken from her book’s section on Devotions. She has recently been blessed with seeing her BITS ‘N’ PIECES OF MY HEART available at a Christian bookstore in the United Kingdom. God continues to light a pathway for others to read her book, as it is available on most online bookstore sites.
It now costs more to amuse a child than it once did to educate his father.
The best way to remember your wife’s birthday is to forget it once.
Herbert V. Prochnow (1897-1998) was an American banking executive, speaker, and writer.
All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.
Whatever you do, put romance and enthusiasm into the lives of our children.
Margaret Read MacDonald (born 1940) is an American storyteller and award-winning author of children’s books.
Big Sky Buckeye 