Hard work

Our children are not just campers who hang out in our homes until they go off to seek their fortunes at the magic age of eighteen. English Puritan George Swinnock compared children with arrows: "Now, we know by nature they are knotty and rugged, but by art they are made smooth and handsome. So children, by nature, are ruffed and untoward but by education are refined and reformed, made pliable to the divine will and pleasure."

This morning my son jogged past me while I was out for a pre-dawn walk. In God’s providence I happened to be praying for this very kid as I worked my way down the roster of children and future in-laws. I hadn’t expected him to be out so early, but sleeping away in bed. That should be an encouragement even while I was praying that God would give Cal, me, and him the desire and the will and the ability to push him to do hard things, to be excellent, for the glory of God.

Parenting is hard work. It should be intentional. It is not just about feeding them and seeing to their medical needs and getting them educated and entertaining them and seeing that they get to bed at a decent hour. It is about bringing them constantly before the Lord, putting them before His face, and teaching them His realities through His word which applies to all aspects of life and living. It is cutting away the knots and bends of their fallen nature through instruction and discipline. "Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness tot hose who have been trained by it."

All the paintings I might have done, all the lunches I might have had, all the books I could have read, instead of hidden and grueling days of managing the time and attitudes of these offspring. I was struck this morning in reading Nehemiah 8 that the leaders of the people “read distinctly from the book of the Law of God and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading.”“Train up a child in the way he should go...” Training is a very big word. May God give me added strength and resolve to diligently watch and guide and train these remaining arrows. May He kindly finish the job so inadequately begun.

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. Brethren pray for us.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23–25