Saturday, September 22, 2012

More Is Caught Than Taught

"Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.  Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity."  Ecclesiastes 11:9- 10

The message in these two short verses say a great deal and should be heeded even more greatly.  It is true that youth tend to be a bit more on the 'daring' side I venture to say.  They seem to think they have the world by the horns and life will carry on forever... We parents, teachers, ministers and adults 'just don't understand'... 'we have never been through such things'... When we were young we would often hear our elders say that time seems to move by so much more quickly the older they get...  and we just couldn't understand such a statement... as we grow older we realize it is strangely true.  I once heard in a message that as soon as a child is born, it begins to die... the aging process begins immediately. As Solomon of old wrote often in Ecclesiastes, '...all is vanity.'

A children's song admonishes, "Be careful little eyes what you see; be careful little ears what you hear; be careful little feet where you go..."  This concept needs to be diligently taught by parents and adults to our children, as well as lived out.  It is hard to teach something that you do not do yourself or tell your youth not to do something that you do... 'more is caught than taught' as the saying goes.  Our children will use us as their guild and for the most part when they are little keep to those things... they believe  and trust us.  As they grow into adolescence, things become a bit more tumultuous and as I wrote the other day, they are now stretching out their wings and testing the world around.  This time is so crucial in the relationship building and I feel so often I fail... It is hard for me to 'let go'... 'to trust'... But I believe that promise written by David in the book of Proverbs, "Train them up in the way they should go and when they are old, they will not depart from it." 

We all have this promise as we seek His wisdom... even when we fail, He is never failing... even when we lack trust, He is there to cover us... Praise God for His never failing attributes and ceaseless love for his ever failing children.

I cling to so many of these promises and I believe them... I am trusting my children to Him.
Until next time,
Jean

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