Our own precious children whose hearts we sought to train. We are so very grateful for them and the relationship we share as adults. (Sarah, Thomas, Lily and Samuel were in the UK, away from us when this phot was taken.)
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You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
2 Corinthians 3:2
In the busyness of our activity-oriented world, it is tempting for us to measure the value of lives by accomplishment or position. Yet, in this time of the covid virus, we are all re-evaluating our priorities. As I look back on the years with my precious children, I found myself seeking to understand how important it was to lay heart foundations, an imagination for living for God, an understanding of truth before I worried about the academic accomplishment of my children.
God will not ask us what grades our children received in school or how they scored on tests, but he will look for hearts that love Him, seek Him, obey Him. Leaving a legacy of love, righteousness and faith requires a plan to focus on what really matters for eternity. Perhaps we can take this pause on our normal lives to reflect once again on what really matters for the long term.
Our children become our letter to the world and reflect what they breathed in through the moments and years lived in our homes. This sort of vision that we hope to pass on happens naturally and organically within the context of our own stories as we shape their values, love, lives. Yet, this is a work of heart that requires years of training, correcting, serving, instructing, praying, living daily by faith. Yet, God, through His spirit partners with us to create this “life” inside the hearts of us and our children that shapes them, and us in the process, to become whole hearted.
The next weeks, I will be writing and speaking about the 10 Gifts of Wisdom Book that Clay and I authored together as our children emerged from our home.
The following are 3 simple training goals we had for our own children.
1.Giving our children and ourselves a foundation of a self-image of one who wants to be godly, holy, set apart for God's purposes is the beginning. Such a grid for life says, "I am ready to pursue holiness every day, all the time, to please you, God, and to do what is right.," is the heart attitude we hope our children will adopt. It is a vision for life. I want my life to count for eternity and so today I will seek to serve God in my heart, my attitudes, my work, my relationships--in every way.
2.Learning and instructing what Godly wisdom is, is essential to being able to follow the vision--teaching the true principles of character help us to pursue integrity. (24 Family ways is good for this.) Learning the meaning of virtue and virtues of moral excellence: diligence, faithfulness, generosity, loyalty, righteousness, etc. When the meaning of a virtue is digested in cognitive understanding, and in cultivating an education for values, then instruction can follow on how to live out virtue through our actions.
3. Practicing "doing" and "being" godly character traits, making godly habits a familiar part of every day, and correcting each action to move in the direction of faithfulness is the practical place of training and building godly character. We discuss all three in the podcast. Hope you enjoy it.
