The children came up with a wonderful idea to make home-made pocky for their Dad. For those not familiar with pocky, (like I was a few days ago) it is a Japanese sweet snack made of a thin delicious biscuit stick dipped in chocolate. They also made their handmade cards which are getting more beautiful and creative as the children are growing. I love to see their artist expressiveness develop and evolve.
Celebrating Father’s Day last week, I could not help but reflect on the fact that we are raising someone’s future husband and father.
That little human you are nurturing will grow into an adult, get married and start a family of their own. May God give us the grace and wisdom to raise them right; in the way of the Lord.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go [teaching him to seek God’s wisdom and will for his abilities and talents], Even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Now is the time to train these future husbands and fathers, while they are still moldable. The training happens in childhood. Because children are from the Lord, He is the one that provides us with guidance on how to raise and train them.
Psalm 127:3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
The Bible offers us a wealth of guidelines and encouragement as to how Christian parents can raise their children according to God’s design. For it is God alone that knows the plans He has for each one of His children, and they are plans to bless them and not harm them, to give them a bright future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)
The best kind of husband and father, according to the Bible, is one who will instruct his household in the way of the Lord. So, to prepare my son to be that kind of husband and father, is to lead him to serve and follow Jesus. By cultivating a personal relationship with Jesus from childhood, my son is fully equipped to be the kind of husband and father that God has called him to be.
Genesis 18:19 Yes, I’ve settled on him as the one to train his children and future family to observe GOD’s way of life, live kindly and generously and fairly.
So, what does that look like for the mother of a six-year-old boy? Praying with him until he learns to pray by himself. Even asking him to repeat prayers after you. Reading the Bible with him until he can read the Bible by himself, again, asking him to repeat verse by verse after you so that he is speaking the Word of God from a young age. There will be a lot of hand holding which requires lots of patience on your part, there will be repetition and the same questions asked over and over and yes, there will be stumbling, falling and getting up again. There will be perfect days and there will be challenging days on this journey of training. Always remember that this is for a season and when the right kinds of seeds are planted in this season, there will be a bountiful harvest of joy and peace to reap in the future. Let the words of Hebrews 12:11 be an anchor and encouragement that you go back to over and over again, reminding you why you chose this path and why you must remain diligent on it.
Hebrews 12:11 For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems sad and painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness [right standing with God and a lifestyle and attitude that seeks conformity to God’s will and purpose].
Raising future husbands and fathers requires discipline for both the parent and the child. It is your duty as a parent to discipline your child. As Proverbs 13:24 puts it, he who withholds the rod [of discipline] hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines and trains him diligently and appropriately [with wisdom and love].
One of the best things we can do for our children is model what a good husband and father should be by being that ourselves. Children who are raised in homes where husbands and wives honor, love and respect each other will grow up to do the same thing that they saw their parents do.
John 5:19-20 So Jesus answered them by saying, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself [of His own accord], unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever things the Father does, the Son [in His turn] also does in the same way.
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Read more of Rachel’s contributions to AllMomDoes here.
