Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Parent (11/16/06)
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TITLE: GOD'S INSTRUCTION MANUAL | Previous Challenge Entry
By Valerie Routhieaux
11/21/06 -
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When my kids were little I used to say that they didn’t come with an instruction manual.
My oldest son, Aaron, was always on the go. I had to be three steps ahead of him at all times or I had lost the battle before it began. My daughter, Shiloh, was more easy-going. I was very happy she wasn’t my first. I would have been beside myself trying to keep up with Aaron. And then there was Edgar, the quietest of all.
It was a running joke that I had to count noses whenever we went anywhere to make certain we had everyone because of their diverse natures.
It was on such an occasion when we needed to go to the hardware store that I forgot to make sure that everyone was buckled in, and turned around to find that one was missing. We turned around and hurried back to the house to find Edgar just waking from his nap. That little incident had us watching more carefully.
Then there was the incident when Shiloh was still in the crib. I got up late.
Aaron beat me to the refrigerator. On the living room floor was a mixture of butter and eggs. In the crib were Aaron and Shiloh covered head to foot in cherries and cherry juice as well as the sheets and every inch of the crib.
I was at my wits end. I didn’t know if cherry juice would come out of their clothes or the sheets, and I had no idea how to get eggs and butter out of the carpet.
Where was the instruction manual on how to raise kids?
Years later I found God’s instruction book on raising children. It’s the book of Proverbs.
I found a treasure trove of information. The verse I’ve relied on since I found it was Proverbs 22:6. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. (KJV)
I also found that at least according to God it was okay to discipline children because it kept them out of hell. Of course the authorities have their own ideas of discipline and we’ve gone the rounds, but after all is said and done I did a pretty good job raising them. They even agree now that they’re parent’s themselves.
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