Training Children

For every moment spent with a child, they pick up signals, words, concepts, emotions – building their lives moment by moment with what we do and say. The Bible tells us about this:

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6 KJV)

Each of us, however, can tell stories that indicate that verse may not be valid. Or, is it?

I’m thinking of a child raised in a family with love – and some dysfunctionality (that could apply to us all, couldn’t it?) but actively involved in church, parents living the fact that they loved the Lord and served Him.  The child did, too, attending services, learning about the Lord and the Bible.  It would appear that he lived with people who worked hard to “train up a child in the way he should go.”

They were successful in so many ways. He is a caring adult, providing service to clients.  He spends time looking at the world and seeing beauty in it.  He appreciates talent, and shares the beauty of what he’s seen and heard with others. He loves his family, deeply and their relationships show how much they enjoy each other’s company.

Nothing wrong in all that, is there?  He is growing older and older and he has not departed from most of what he was taught, how he was trained. Except for his family’s love of God.

He departed from their service to the Lord. That’s his decision, not theirs. Parents and extended family can provide the opportunity for acceptance of Christ as personal Lord and Savior, but each one of us must face that decision on our own.

No amount of training can make that decision, either. It comes from within ourselves and and cannot be made for another. The best we can do is pray.

I do pray for this gentle man, too.  Those who raised him have left this life, though family members and friends remain around him, love and pray for him, too. They respect his life, his work and appreciate what he does for them. And they lift him in prayer.

I pray, too. I like him, have found him to be friendly, kind and helpful. Our lives have not touched in many places, but there are some spots that go beyond coincidence. I think God has provided opportunities for both of us to learn from each other.

As parents, we can train up a child in the way he should go. That child must come to the heavenly Father, who waits to give more training:

Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. (Psalms 25:4-5 KJV)

I will continue to pray to my heavenly Father for this trained child who has grown old, that he might find the path laid out by our Father.