Saturday, May 5, 2007

Training Children

Last night I decided to seek out that verse in Proverbs that states, "Train a child in the way he should go. When he is old, he will not turn away from it." -Proverbs 22:6 NIV

I was really pondering what this verse meant because I have known several wonderful Christian mothers who trained their children to the best of their ability and spent a lot of time praying over them and yet their children do not serve God. I just don't understand.

As a mom, you do the best you can and you do a lot of praying for your child but the fear is still there that when they grow older they will turn away from Him. I'm going to have to give this verse a lot of thought and prayer.

2 comments:

Davene said...

Hi, New Mom! I found your blog from Pleasant View Schoolhouse, and I look forward to checking back in with you to follow along on your blog. Elon is a cutie pie!!! This entry that you wrote struck a deep chord in me, as it echoed my thoughts about parenting EXACTLY. I certainly don't have the answer to making sure our children decide to follow God (because, of course, that is entirely their decision in the end), but in my blog, I've written about this topic a few times. If you're interested, you can check it out...specifically, the posts "My Deepest Desire" from Feb. 25, 2007--"Food for the Soul" from Jan. 28, 2007--and "Titus 1:6" from Mar. 6, 2007. It might give you some things to think about as we journey along this path of motherhood together. :) Blessings to you and your family!
lifeonsylvandrive.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

The best understanding that I have of this is that the Proverbs are probabilities, not promises. Every human has free will.
Also, if you research this scripture, if I recall correctly, raising a child "in the way they should go" means to raise them toward their natural bent or natural giftings that God has given them. For instance, our daughter Annaliese has a natural giftedness in the arts, so we nuture that and cultivate that to the glory of God. Of course we do also believe in raising our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord!
Your little boy is adorable,
thanks for letting me comment!
Hannah