Taking “Training Up a Child” to a Whole New Level
During this unexpected schooling-at-home, I have received so much entertainment from many of my friends. I’ve watched some hilarious antics, as well as creative YouTube videos of moms becoming “at-home-school” principals. One meme said: “Homeschool Day 1: Wondering how I can get this kid transferred out of my class”. Another one said: “It’s Day 1 of Homeschool: Out of the four of us, only three of us cried.” And, this one: “Home Schooling Update: My child just said I hope I don’t have the same teacher next year.”
I was able to fly the coop to my Austin family. I’m enjoying my two youngest grands with their homeschooling. Bryson, age 13, is good at it since he’s been homeschooled for years. Brennan, age 15, has adapted well. I witnessed him creating and giving a presentation via video in several locations around their property with creativity and ingenuity. Amazing!
Homeschooling wasn’t a consideration back in my day. But, church-schooling was. In those years, we learned every Bible story and memorized a lot of scriptures. Even in those early years, we learned to call upon the God of those Bible stories and scriptures to be our “help”. The older we became, the more we realized that all of those years of child training established us in life. We carried those same principles on, and into our children, who are leading their own children by that example.
I’ve loved seeing the moms and dads who are integrating Bible stories and scriptures into their homeschooling during this quarantine. The scripture “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he’ll not depart from it” is an ANCHOR scripture from Proverbs 22:6. What if God allowed these times to be the foundation for their present and future – even to the extent of their future children someday?
Children are so impressionable in their environments. Where there is abusive language and actions or where there is calm and patience – they will potentially take on as their normal. They learn by example. I realize our faith was built upon the example of our parents and what they taught us from the way they loved each other and spoke to or about each other. They instilled in us the fortitude, tenacity, unwavering faith and strength to draw from, and to know that God loves us unceasingly. They taught us that when the going gets tough and pressures seem insurmountable, we have a confidence in knowing God is able and willing to meet our every need. We know our hope and trust was, and always will be, in the One whose steadfast love never ceases and His faithfulness will always carry us through.
Seriously, dear moms and dads – my heart goes out to you and what you have been forced to take on during this time of quarantine. Hopefully, you’ll never be in these circumstances again after this quarantine ends. But, more than that, I pray these words impress you enough to never stop training your children and grandchildren in the ways they should go. I promise you…it is worth the effort!