Raising Children
And a very good morning to you!
It is Saturday morning, 22 January, the year 2022 and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
“Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.”Proverbs 22:6
And then we go to the New Testament:
“…from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Timothy 3:15
I heard a very disturbing story... My wife was telling me that a young school teacher who we know well, she is a lovely Christian lady, phoned up her mom and said: “I feel like giving up teaching. I have been given a class of small children that are totally undisciplined, unruly and very bad-mannered.”
It made me so sad - You know, Moms and Dads it takes time and it takes effort to bring up your children. It is not the responsibility of the school teacher, carer or of the maid for that matter - It is your responsibility. Remember, your little boy will not do what you tell him, Dad - He will do what you do. If you love his mom, he will love his wife when he grows up. If you have quiet times with the Lord every morning, that little boy will do exactly the same. If you work hard Dad, he will be a hard worker when he grows up.
The other day I went down to the city with one of my little grandsons and he wanted to buy me a meal so I allowed him to do that. When it came time for paying, I said to him, “Let me do the paying.” He said, "No, I will pay, please. I invited you.” He insisted and so I allowed him to pay and he got his little wallet out and he counted out the money exactly. He was so proud to pay. And then afterwards, the waitress was standing there and then he dug back into his wallet. I said, “What are you doing now?” He said, “No, no, I am giving her a tip”, and he gave her an extremely generous tip I want to tell you. I said, “Why are you doing that, son?” And he said, “Because Kulu (that’s what he calls me, the Zulu name for grandfather), that is what my dad always does."
You know, there is nothing more embarrassing for me than to see a young child disobey their mother in public and her mom is sitting there trying to negotiate with a three or four-year-old child. It makes my heart very sore, not with the mother but for that poor little child. You see, that little child has to go out to an unforgiving world where she will be treated very severely for lack of respect for others.
Moms and Dads do the godly thing. Raise your children and they will make you very, very proud.
"I have been young, and now am old;
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,
Nor his descendants begging bread."Psalm 37:25
Bring up your children correctly and they will do well in the marketplace.
God bless you and goodbye.