Raising Up Righteousness: Proverbs 22:6

Hello tender friends!

The window of time we have to mold our kids can be terrifying. Nobody wants their kid to end up a jerk, and so many experiences when kids are young create lifelong preferences.

The first time I walked into the church where Anthony and I met and got married, I took a deep breath said to myself, I remember this.

I’d never actually been to that church before but went because it was called Immanuel. Immanuel is Hebrew for God is with us. At that time, that was the only certain fact I knew about God.

While I was not a kid who grew up in church, I experienced enough of a church environment to create an emotional connection to what I later came to understand was the Holy Spirit. Enough holy ground work was laid that I spent my twenties in the back pew sobbing my heart out every time I walked into a church but knowing that I was somehow getting better. The heart laid out on the altar and tears that fell were part of the cleansing.

When I walked into Immanuel, I remembered not that specific building, but the feeling of being in a building dedicated to the Lord. I was home in a way that didn’t depend on geography.

As moms and dads we’re laying the groundwork that will guide our children for the rest of their lives, drawing them back if they become prodigals, and saving them from certain heartache if they stay the course. We’re laying the groundwork, holy holy groundwork, so that they know not where, but who, home is.

When we went to pick Cub up one day after church, I heard the Sunday school teacher say, “Well if you had cleaned up when I told you to before, you’d have it done now.”

“You already told him to clean up and he didn’t do it? ” I asked.

I felt like I’d been slapped because I was disappointed. As far as it depends on us, our kid will not be that kid.

Anthony and I put him on a timeout when we got home. While Cub doesn’t normally cry on timeout, he sobbed as Anthony reminded him of all the kind things the Sunday School teacher has done for him and explained that he had a timeout for disobeying her.

Seeing him cry did kind of rip my heart out. But you know what? Conviction isn’t a bad thing.

When I prayed about it the next day, the Lord said, “Well, he needs consequences.” What struck me was how matter of fact He was about it. Maybe it was my own voice I was hearing- I’m really not sure on this one- but I recognized the wisdom and truth in it either way.

Consequences have become a dirty word in American parenting, but clear consequences would have saved me tons of heartache and my own young life. My hope and prayer is that appropriate and consistent consequences now will save Cub from a big whack from God in the future. While God is the master of loving correction, it’s not always fun to receive that correction.

For now, these are our imperfect attempts at raising up righteousness. Every day that passes, the window we have to mold him gets a little smaller.

Ok, that’s all for today, tender friends! Thank you for stopping by, and thank you to the new friends! I’ll be sharing our habanero hot sauce on Thursday.

Thank you for sharing!

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