Thursday Theology

I've heard many times that children don't come with an instruction manual. Ah, but they do...it's just that most people won't read it anymore. Early on in this manual the Author even provides a job description for "Parent:"

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Deuteronomy 6:5-7

Succinct, yet comprehensive! The ultimate two-step program: live out your faith, while passing it on to your children. Neither is easy, however, as the evidence around us shows. That's why there's 65 OTHER books in the Bible, too...the instructions get a little more specific, the more you read.

I don't claim to be a perfect parent. But I know the Three Musketeers and I have a much better time when I'm in tune with Christ and trying to pass that connection along to them. So many people think of devotion as a dreary duty...but Bible reading has become a treasured time between the kids and me. Don't believe it? If they don't see me pick up the bookmarked Bible quick enough at breakfast, I get asked real quick if we're going to "continue the story." The blessing returns when we're doing something else together while carrying on a conversation about the things we've read. Who would have thought yardwork could have eternal implications?

As of today I'm indebted to a coworker for lending me a 100-year old book of wit and wisdom for young boys: "Boy Wanted," by Nixon Waterman. In a fun, poetic way, he goes about showing young boys how to plan to be succesful, honorable men. The first chapter went by quickly at bedtime. The Musketeers soaked it in, though Dad had to do a little updating to the language. That's ok...vocabularies change, but Truth remains the same!