Children

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My husband and I just received a calendar for 2008 as a special birthday gift for both of us from our daughter who is a junior at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. Although my husband and I were born in two different months, Silalei decided to give us a common present. She created the calendar herself through lulu.com. She has chosen some very touching quotes to go on the different months, but my favorite one is the quote that she put under the picture of her father for the month of August (his birthday month). The quote says, "My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it!" - Wow!

Jesus gave us all an example of teaching by example. For three and a half years, He went everywhere with His disciples and let them watch how he did things. He taught them how to pray (the Lord's Prayer), how to cast out demons, how to be humble (by washing their feet), and how to be totally sold out to doing the will of God (by dying on the cross)! It is interesting that in Luke 10:21 Jesus referred to His disciples as little children, hence leaving us an example of how to parent our own children. He knew that one day he was going to go back to the Father and the disciples would then have to stand on their own and carry on the message of salvation. The three and one half years that Jesus spent with His disciples is symbolic of the time that our children spend with their parents before they go out on their own to forge their own future. How well they have been parented will show in the choices they make later in life and the general direction that their lives take. Remember the old adage "like father like son?"

In Deuteronomy 6:6-7 God told the Israelites, "These commandments that I give you 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." Parenting with Christian precepts means that we are involved in our children's lives from a young age. It means teaching them the commandments of God which is "a light unto their paths and a lamp unto their feet." It means talking with them when we sit at home and when we are on the road. However the most important thing is living a genuine Christian life before them and letting them watch! Sometimes our actions are so loud, our children cannot hear what we are saying!

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