Tell Your Children
Tell Your Children
Listening to an older person relate his experiences, he being a child of one of the pioneers of the Christian faith, set me thinking. He spoke about the sacrifices his father made, the hardships endured, the strong decisions made, leaving lives of rituals and religious dogmas - all for the sake of a new path - the path of Eternal life.
His is just one story. How many of our grandparents have trod this path! They sacrificed a path of roses and chose a path of thorns, to stand fast in the faith and spread it to others lost in the world of darkness and bring them to the light. They chose to undertake this path at the cost of being forsaken even by parents and relatives and be disinherited from family property and be shunned from family occasions. They had to take shelter in the open or be a recipient of some kind hearts' goodness.
Do we tell about such experiences to our children of the present generation - children who take things for granted, who hardly know the pains of attaining things, whose every whim and fancy is catered to? We should not forget the fact that all the blessings that we are enjoying now are only because of God's extreme faithfulness to our forefathers who showed great devotion to Him. Psalm 105:8 says, "He has remembered His covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations."
True, we work hard and reap rewards, but behind the scenes, there is always the earnest prayer and dedicated pious lives with principles, morals, values and example of our dear parents, grandparents, spiritual leaders, teachers and relatives. We very well know about our grandmothers' tears that have been stored by God, resulting in the answering of so many prayers. We only understand the value of a person when we have lost him/her.
I can say with full conviction that when my grandmother, who was my role model and a very staunch follower of the Faith, passed away, it was as if a cloud of prayer and protection had diminished over me. She, like others, obeyed God's command as in Joshua 1:2-5, "Go over this Jordan… I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."
Even in this fast age when we wish there were more than 24 hours in a day to meet our deadlines, let us take time to instill values in our children - values that have been passed on by our grandparents and parents. Let us take time to narrate to them the experiences of their forefathers and inculcate in them the conviction that they have to carry on this torch, till the Lord comes.
We have to help them base their entire lives on the WORD as a life-manual amidst new philosophies and help them realize that sacrifices have to be made in the name of love, relationships have to be valued and nurtured, an exemplary life upholding traditional beliefs should be maintained.
We should teach children how to apply in real life the spiritual truths they learn in Sunday school and in sermons which they hear a lot, being in a digital age where nothing is difficult to access. They need to understand that there will be failures in life which they have to accept as God's plans, they will not get all that they want at a snap of their fingers, that it is alright not to always be at the top and life is not all about material wealth alone.
They need to be taught to go to the Lord in any situation in life, trusting in the Lord "with all of their heart and not lean on their own understanding" as said in Proverbs 3 verse 5. Parents should encourage them to be strong in the inner man, and not always expect their parents to bail them out of any dilemma and provide all the answers. Tell them that there is a solution for everything in God's Word and a strong prayer life should be cultivated so that wherever they go, they can feel the presence of the Lord.
Along with teaching God's Word to our children "when they sit, walk, lie down and rise up" as said in Deuteronomy 11:19, let us also tell them proudly about our pioneers - the pillars of our faith - and the foundations they laid for us. Let us declare to our children and the world… Ebenezer!