My dear friend Tracy really sees the poetry of life, she seeks after Wisdom and she loves the Lord. I am so glad she shares her heart with us. Won’t you make her feel welcome by posting a comment below?

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 RSV)

Deuteronomy 6 is the magna carta of child rearing in the home. The Hebrew word for “rear” (gadal) literally means “to twist into greatness.” God teaches us as parents to twist our children against their own selfish nature and impress, or etch, His own commands upon them. By our modeling of His Truth and offering continuous instruction, He makes a lasting impression upon their growing hearts and minds.

Recently I have felt the sting of aging, but not of my own: my children are getting older. That harvest is looming in the nearing distance. Daily, I see glimpses of the upcoming harvest. The reminders are startling at times. Sudden eye to eye contact due to height growth, development, maturity , and desire for independence are a few weather warnings.

One of my final messages for my growing children is found in the ant:

• When first born and into the toddler and preschool years, a child Is depend-ANT. Parents are the primary providers for his needs and desires.
• Ultimately every child seeks to be independ-ANT, expressing the ever alluring desire to experience freedom from control and authority. Ants are helpful to a garden by being natural soil aerators.
• My message for my children is to become God-reliANT. Just as the ant creates several paths within the confines of the rich soil, my hope is that my children will utilize their freedom to follow God’s paths for them while fully submitting to His Will.

Lenora Weber emphasizes the importance of the rearing and freedom in parenting by stating: Parents owe it to the children they bring into the world to put the tools of living in their hands hands which we have made as strong and capable as we can. But, having given them hands and the tools we also owe it to them not to do their digging for them.

The God-reliANT youth will need to be trusted with some of the tilling.   Proverbs 6:6 compliments the ant by saying, “ Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise.”

As we approach the untilled fields of the high school years, my parenting thumb feels brown and uncertain. Ready or not, these plants are growing. Even though in the harvest lies the unknown, I sense the prompting to unclench my hand, become God-reliant, and seek the joy in this season.

“For you shall go out with JOY, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” Isaiah 55:12.

 

 

 

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