The Hands We Hold
Something I
was reading the other day started me thinking about the hands we
hold.
When your
child puts their hand in yours, it may be filthy from making mud
pies, or smelly from patting the dog or sticky from eating an ice
cream, but it is a hand belonging to a child who you have the
responsibility of training. A life to mold. A hand that is trusting
you to show the way.
Proverbs
22:15 “Train up a child in the way he should go,
and when he
is old, he will not depart from it.”
This doesn't
just mean raising an obedient child, but raising a responsible adult.
We, as parents have the amazing and fearful task of instilling Godly
values into our children and
teaching
them life skills that will help
them as they grow older.
Teaching them
the importance of hard work. Teaching them what the Bible says on all
subjects and guiding them through life, protecting them but not
sheltering
them from
lessons they may learn along the way.
The hands we
hold are hands of the future. These are hands that will hold a Bible
or an ungodly magazine. Hands that will raise in praise or raise in
anger. Hands that will serve God or serve the Devil. Hands that will
be gentle or harsh. Hands that will work hard or be lazy.
Hands that
will help, or hands that will harm.
What an
awesome responsibility we have! So many Christian parents are
choosing to walk away from the Bible as the best child training
manual ever written, and are turning to worldly wisdom.
1
Corinthians 1:20b
1
Corinthians 3:19a “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness
with God”
God sees the
world's wisdom as foolishness.
God's way is always best.
What are we
doing with the hands God has given into our trust? Are we choosing to
ignore them when they reach out to us? Are we teaching them laziness
by our example? Are we teaching them to be greedy? Do we train them
to be hard workers, not giving up when things get hard? Are we
teaching them what it means to serve others with no thought of
reward? Do we teach
them
to use their talents for the Lord?
Hands can be
used for many things, good or bad.
We only hold our childrens' hands for a little
while, so the time for training is very short.
As parents,
God has given these precious lives
into our charge and we have the
blessing of training the future generation.
Don't take
lightly the lives that belong
to the hands you hold.
