Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
Proverbs 22:6
Summer’s over. Those words bring out a lot of different emotions depending on a person’s point of view. For kids starting school, those words often bring sadness. No longer will they be able to sleep until noon, do what they want to do during the day, and go to sleep as late as they want…because they now have school in the morning. For parents, it’s a different feeling. As one mom put it on facebook, “Had coffee on my front porch this beautiful morning. The only sounds were the birds chirping and my little fountain in the front yard puttering....Ahhhhh. Schools in session!”
For a new college freshman, “summer’s over” brings a feeling of excitement and anticipation as they begin a new set of experiences and learning in a new place. For their parents, however, there is usually a little bit of sadness and anxiety as their child leaves home ? a sadness and anxiety similar to their first day of kindergarten 13 years earlier. In kindergarten you knew your child was under the care of a very trustworthy teacher. But when they leave for college, there is no one there to watch over them. Which is where Proverbs 22:6 comes in. Parents, we are called to ‘train our child in the way he should go.’ Sounds simple enough. Make sure they’re baptized, send them to worship and Sunday School every now and then, make sure they’re confirmed, and you’ve got that covered, right? Not at all.
Training our children is not something we do passively. Training is active. It’s not something we set aside and let someone else do for us. It’s something WE are engaged in. It’s not just making our child attend worship, but attending with them, actively participating in that worship (with no complaining). It’s not simply dropping our child off for Sunday School while we go out for a cup of coffee, but attending Bible study for ourselves (don’t worry; there is coffee available at Bible study). Training our children is not something we do only on Sundays, but every day as we pray before meals and at bedtime, as we share a family devotion together, as we talk about God’s work in our lives throughout the day. Our children’s main training happens as they watch us and our attitude and actions towards God and others.
May God grant us His Holy Spirit to guide us as we train up our children in the forgiveness and grace that He gave to us through Jesus Christ. May we be imitators of Christ, so that our children may be imitators of Him by being imitators of us!