"Train up a child in the way he shoul go,
Even when he is old he will not depart from it."
For Christian parents, what is the point of having children if the parents are not going to educate and shape their kids as Christians, following the One True God, Jehova the Almighty?
I am sure when God said to mankind " Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.", He meant it to be meaningful.
I believe it is our Christian calling to live for God in a repentful way and when He lets us marry and have kids, to pass our inheritance from God to our children.
We should teach our children boldly that they are seperate for God. I believe if we are not ashamed of our Christian identity , then we will be able to prepare a Christian life and education for our beloved children.
Children copy usually what they see and hear, more than what they are told.
As parents we will be the first examples for our children to observe.
We are their first teachers.
I am planning to be my children's teacher and of course their mother too.
I keep observing the good kids of the good Christian families: Christ is a life style for them. There is no force for it but because it is a life style, their children are shaped through the love for Jesus.
Not everybody is living or will live in a country where the majority is Christians.
Where I live there is very limited numbers of Christians and Christian families. So under these conditions, our job becomes even more important: If you dont live as a Christian, your child will have a very poor example or even no examples.
I observe other non-Christian families too. It amazes me to see that somehow they are very aware of the fact that if they dont live their own belief and their religion, they know that they will disappear. So they are very carefull and diligent while they are passing their own moral inheritance to their own kids.
Of course I am not trying to say that the Christian community exists or is surviving through our own efforts. No , of course not. We can be only the tools , not the reason. It is our Lord who keeps us and our Christian community alive, it is Jesus who is the head of His Church and who keeps His Church firm. All I am trying to say and emphasize here that we as Christian parents, we should know what our first responsibility and calling is: It is our family, our children.
Bible is teaching us that we come to faith because God chooses us. He determined us as His Children, it is Him who chooses us, not we who choose Him. So knowing that fact, some lazy parents might think that they dont need to be teaching or shaping their kids as Christians because God can choose them one day and make them Christians anyway.. Most of us didnt even have a Christian family or background. For example I didnt have a Christian family , I wasnt a Christian, I didnt even know what Christianity was, who Jesus was until the age of 21...So considering those facts, we might easily be mislead by the idea that we dont need to raise our kids as Christians because it is God who determines the salvation anyway , the salvation doesnt come through a Christian education.
I have to say that , imagine your kids are determined to be Christians and exalt His Name...and yes they will meet Jesus one day during their lifetime even if you dont raise them as Christians but how about the in between?!! How about the muddy life that you are pushing them in, by not living as Christians and by not teaching them the Christ's ways? Will you not feel awful for not protecting them and teaching them how to protect themselves from this sinful world and the evil in it? Yes, your children might meet Jesus one day naturally, even if you dont tell them about Jesus, but when they meet Him, they will be bringing lots of sinful and junk stuff along themselves , and huge consequences of their sinful life styles so far...There will be lots of issues to be sorted out...
Wouldnt you prefer to teach them the safe and good way of Jesus?
You cant save your kids, you cant give them salvation but you CAN prepare them for it!
Whenever this subject comes into my mind, I make a little prayer from my heart , remembering , imagining my unborn children, and I pray for me wisdom when this honorifying burden will be put by God on my shoulders. If we dont pray we will easily be blinded and forget our responsibilities and our first calling as parents.
I am not saying that we should raise our kids as weirdos who dont know anything about the world they are living in but only the religion. I am saying: It is easy for any generation to have an access for shopping, competitions, sports,fashion, the latest hit music and so on but to have an access for Christ will be limited for their lives since the world has no intention to demonstrate Jesus but only its own sinful going on. You cannot expect the society to do your job for you as parents.
As Christian parents, if we are more worried about our children's worldly growing than their spiritual growing, there is a problem in that. Lets all be carefull about our priorities.
Lets all be carefull about our priorities.
I have met a Rat once. Yes...It was once upon a time.
Do you know how to recognize a real quality Rat? Let me help you.
First of all, good rats get along very well with nature. All other animals are friends of a good quality Rat. Maybe you had been taught at school when you were a kid that the Lion is the King of the Animals...but I should say, it is the Rat! He is the King of the Nature.
A good Rat loves adventures. He was born to be in the adventures and he doesnt know the meaning of the word 'impossible'. All of things are possible with a good quality Rat if he prays.
Rats are the best friends. Maybe you have heard that it is the dogs who are the best friends..but I should say, it is the Rat! He has the best qualities that you can find in a friend. Rats are stubborn though: You say black they say white, you say sweet he says it is sour. You say the steak is hard but he says it is soft enough. You have to accept a good Rat as the way he is ...because after all he is a good Rat and you will be happy with him.
You can also recognize a Rat, from his eating habits! They are crazy about chocolate! They never say no to food. They praise what you cook even if it doesnt taste good. For a Rat , eating is a way of thanking the Lord.
A good quality Rat looks even better when he is wet. A wet Rat is still a Rat.
Only good parents give birth to a good Rat. Special moment, special purpose.
May the Lord bless all the good Rats on the earth .
A good Rat lives in a huge pile of books. He sleeps between the pages of the books.
A good Rat is very intelligent too. However he doesnt boast about his abilities: He uses his abilities to earn his life and help others on earth.
A good Rat can get along even with the cats, can you imagine?! Yes they do. Not because the cats are good but it is the Rat who is good. He can also teach you how to get along with cats on earth. And you'd better listen to him if you truely wanna learn from him.
Yes, I have met a Rat once...
Sometimes I felt like killing him... You know...'what is a Rat for ?!' you might think. You follow him and you chop his head and there he is, on the ground, harmless..
You follow the Rat and you chop his head.
Today all I want is to follow this cute good quality Rat. No broom in hand, no slipper. No sharp words to cut his head off...Only follow. Okay I confess : Still sometimes I feel like to step on his tail while I am following him but a good Rat is also very playful: You can have fun and quality time with a good Rat.
A good Rat's biceps are stronger than they look. You might get surprised.
Well...if you are around a good Rat , you will be surprised often actually.
He doesnt gossip. He doesnt betray. He doesnt bite you.
I recommend you to have a good quality Rat for yourself. But dont tie him.
A good Rat loves his freedom.
And don't pet him: To pet is for pets but He is not a pet: He is the Wet Rat!
I have the song of my salvation. The words of this song are hidden in my Father's heart. That is why, singing this song only by words is not enough, is not satisfying...The meaning of the words in my song of salvation is so beyond understanding, is so deep that, in order to feel it you have to accept it through faith and heart and only if your faith and heart are following the Father.
Following my Heavenly Father and singing in my spirit,the song of salvation He has for me...
I sing this same song with other Christians at church but when I go to the market I am the only singer. When I take the bus it makes me feel sad and strange that I am the only singer. I see people everywhere but they don't have the song of salvation in their lives. They don't have this song for eternity. Actually they don't even know that there is such a beautiful song existing. They are living without this song of salvation. They don't think that they need to be saved. They are not in a position to desire the song of salvation.
It gives me tears from time to time when I think about it.
She was a beautiful princess. Also smart, admirable, passionate for life, she was full of plans and goals...
Her people loved her but that was never enough for her.
She often loved teaching. She would teach others everything she knew about life. That was her gift.
This precious princess wasn't a perfect one of course.
She had her temper. She had inherited her temper through other noble kings and queens in the dynasty. If you are the princess in the palace, you should have your royal temper, right? At least that was what she was taught and she also strongly agreed in.
She was very stubborn too. Did you know that stubborn people don't listen to other people's advices much? Successful and fair leaders should always listen to the advices though. It is one of the keys that leads you to be a good princess.
This tender princess had lots of pride too..She was so proud that she wouldn't even breathe while she was talking.
Of course she had so many good sides too but in a moment of anger , stubbornness or a prideful speech, all the good stuff about her used to be swept away instantly. It is true that the negative image about a person can easily overshadow the positive image.
This lovely princess didn't actually have an intention to create a bad image about her but this was what she was actually doing. Somebody needed to talk to her about how to have a Godly image..Unfortunately nobody had the right tone of voice to talk to her...She had special ears..Did you know that special ears can hear only a Special Voice? She needed to hear her Heavenly Father's voice.
His Voice is strong, His Voice is comforting, His Voice is convincing...His Voice cares about His children. His Voice can talk to His children's hearts. Her heart needed to be ministered as well as her ears by her Heavenly Father.. She didn't know that yet. There is always a right time to know about what you need to know about.
One day she was walking in the garden of the palace...She saw a boy in the garden. He was not from the palace, he was just playing in the garden and thats how they met.
She asked him:" What are you doing here?" He explained her that he was there because he was invited to a birthday party and he wanted to play there with some other friends. He also said:" Oh I heard that there is gonna be lots of cake and icecream today at the party! Yay!"
She said :" Oh I want to come too and play with you all. May I ?"
He looked at her a little bit concerned about something, after a pause he said:" Sure but...your nose...Are you sure you can enjoy the cake and the fellowship with this nose??"
He voice was surprised when he was asking her this but she was more surprised than him,because of his question. The beautiful princess asked the boy:" What nose? What are you talking about??"
He continued:" Oh not only your nose but also your teeth and eyes...How can you join us under these conditions?" She had no idea what the boy was talking about...Why wouldn't she enjoy the party with other boys and girls, what was wrong with her nose,teeth and eyes?
While she was thinking the answers for those questions, he handed her a bright object that he was keeping in his bag. She looked at it. She had never seen something like that before. She asked him:" What is this?"
" It is called mirror, you have never seen a mirror before??",asked the boy.
"No, never..." she said.
After a moment of hesitation he said:" I can give it to you as a gift, please keep it. You hold it and look at your face carefully, this is how you use it."
She did as the boy told her. As soon as she looked at her face at the mirror, she was terrified and she started crying.. What she saw on the mirror was her lovely face...Her face had a giant nose, giant wide eyes and giant big sharp teeth.. She couldn't believe in what she had just seen on the mirror. This couldn't be true.
She was a very beautiful princess , this was how she was in her Heavenly Father's eyes. The Heavenly Father sees His children as complete. Even if His children have undesirable sides, Heavenly Father sees them through His loving Eyes. That is how He can have patience for His children when they are in the process of change..
When the beautiful princess was crying, her Heavenly Father was talking to her heart and spirit in a very tender voice...Her Heavenly Father explained her that ...her giant nose had grown up huge because of her pride, her eyes grew incredible big because of her stubbornness, and her teeth were so big sharp and dangerous because of her sudden anger. Her Father spoke to her spirit that there was nothing that He could not fix.. After crying enough she thanked the boy for letting her know the truth about her , she thanked him for the mirror. The boy helped her to wipe her tears and they became friends.
As she truely realised about her anger, stubbornness and pride, she was so willing to repent for her sins. As she repented her nose,eyes and teeth went back to the normal size.
She was so thankful for the mirror.
They saw an endless garden. It was huge; bigger than their imagination. They didn't know what to do with it. Playing house on it? Or maybe camping? Running? Jumping would be good too! And then what?
"What did people use to do in ancient times on gardens?" asked the little girl to the little boy.
The little boy shook his shoulders as usual. " I don't know.." he said.
The little girl was much more little than the little boy but she was such a mischievous one. She said " I will just ask around and find out what else we can do in this garden!" and then she pulled the little boy's shirt up and she also pushed him in the lake and she ran away of course: She knew that his revenge would be glorious! :)
Actually it wasn't only her who was very crurious about the answer: The little boy was also trying to find a good answer about that garden. He felt like a big man and he just felt it deep inside that there was more than playing in this world. "There must be a bigger purpose, a more important occupation for me and for her in the future" he said to himself.
A few days later they met again to put their info power together and save the mankind! YES, these were the exact words she used, and the boy was unbelievably admiring her imagination but he never liked to show it to her: " Why spoiling her?" was his motivation. Ah, boys boys boys.
If she was a less smart bunny "maybe" he would risk to spoil her ? Well, as we all know "maybe" means 50/50 chance :)
As for the information they all got was this: "You plant fruit in a garden! You plant trees and when it is the right season the trees will have fruit: Lots of fruit." Wow what a hard job, what a big calling it was for them...They had never planted trees before. They had no idea how to plant , where to start, how to take care of the trees...This planting job required lots of and lots of care, knowledge, wisdom, hard labor, responsibility and even love...How do you plant trees if you don't love the them first of all?
...but they were a team and they decided to be an invincible, no fear team! YES, these were again her exact words she used, and the boy was unbelievably admiring her imagination again, otherwise what else was he allowed to do? :) He was a good encouraging litttle boy.
Their planting schedule was getting more and more busy. They had to be quick because some seasons were not good for some kind of fruit ..as they learned.
Once there was very very big storm and the storm hurt some of the trees, poor trees were not able to bare fruit at all . The little girl was very sad and the little boy was actually very disappointed with her because he thought she wasn't serious enough about her job. However if you asked her she would say the same thing, the same accusation about him!
There were better times too. Both of them were taking this planting job very seriously and they were working very diligently and carefully. They were growing physically and emotionally, acting less childish and more like adults. Oh how much they wanted to see the various fruit.
One morning it snowed so hard that most of the trees lost their flowers suddenly and there was no way for those flowers to turn into fruit. The little girl cried , the little boy cried and unfortunately they ended up accusing eachother for not taking good care of the trees in hard seasons. Their falsely accusing words were more than their tears. Who was right? It doesn't matter because life is so short and they had to remember that their life calling wasn't for to fight anymore but to plant and take more and more responsibility. Obviously they had a lot to learn and they were definitely learning but thorough the difficult way.
There was a time when they didnt have any rain, a severe drought...They hadn't seen any fruit yet .
There was another time when it was too hot...
It seemed like although there was hardship at planting, the little girl and the boy were learning still from the situations and from eachother. They didn't accuse eachother much: Even better: They stopped it and really focused on planting. They were so busy with planting and loving their trees that they couldn't even notice that time was going good, the work was going good even in the hardships of planting and the seasons.
The spring came...The trees had flowers on finally! The flowers turned to various fruit! They all had different colors , different taste and smell. She had grown up to a very polite nice young lady and he grew up to a very good polite young man, they kept giving eachother these fruit as gifts. They called the fruit: trust
After that, the town people always saw them talking to eachother like this: " Here is my gift, please take my trust, it is good, no rotten spot on it " she was saying, and he was saying " Oh thank you my lady, you are so kind, here is my trust for you too, it is fresh"
And their trees in the garden never stopped bearing fruit: the trust
And their trees bore trust in hard times and in good times.
I guess that is a very trustworthy ending!
