Take the Time, it’s worth it!
My wife and I feel
especially blessed because we were chosen by God to care for His children. We became foster parents many years ago and
have had the opportunity to be parents to many of those closest to his
heart. That in itself is a staggering
and awesome responsibility. We at first
were heartbroken as we could not have our own children, but we later learned He
had children for us… many, many children.
The commission we received was to care for His precious children. Not the most beautiful, the most talented,
the best behaved, clothed, educated, cutest, but precious just the same. He sent us throw away children who no one
else wanted. No one else cared to know
about. Children, who had been abused,
neglected, exploited, victimized. These
children came with all sorts of problems, physical, mental, emotional. Some of them seemed to have the souls sucked
out of them; they were empty, barren, and void of life or joy, shells of their
former selves. The majority of the
children we worked with were young to late teens and that age group under the
best of circumstances comes with its own set of challenges as most of you
know.
We learned quickly that
we had no control over what had happened to them before they came to us, but we
did have once they came into our home.
We prayed for wisdom and strength to deal with them and to be able to
make some sort of impact on their lives.
Prayerfully, an impact that would last with them long
after they left our home. In our
prayers and our study of God’s word, we were directed to just what God does
expect of parents.
To Teach: (Deuteronomy 6:
5-7)
And you shall love the Lord with all your heart, soul and
might. These words I command you this
day shall always be in your heart. And
you will teach them diligently unto
your children and you will talk of them while you sit around your home and when
you walk through the day, when you lay down at night and when you rise in the
morning
To Train: (Proverbs 22:6)
Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will
not depart from it.
To Provide for: (
For the child should not provide for the parent, rather the parent
for the child
To Nurture: (Eph 6:4)
And as a parent you should not provoke your children to wrath, but
bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord our God.
To Control: (1
For a parent who rules their own home well with their children well
in hand in all obedience and taking serious the authority of the parent.
To Love:
In everything you say, everything you do, every action, every word,
you show and teach your children LOVE and about
love. Is it the LOVE of the Father or
the love of the world? Is it chaste,
solid, of good reproach or is it of things or objects? Is it unconditional as the Father’s or do
they have to measure up in some way?
People muse that children
don’t come with instruction booklets, but don’t they? Isn’t God’s word instruction enough? His word teaches, trains, provides for, nurtures,
teaches self control, and most importantly… how to LOVE> IN EVERY THING HE DOES, EVERY WORD, HIS SON,
HIS BLESSINGS, HIS GLORY, HIS GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE… is all because of His love
for his children. Our
instruction booklet is HIS WORD.
How do we accomplish
this? SPENDING TIME! How can we instill our morals and values
without spending time with our children?
Be involved. Stay involved. Be interested, be supportive,
communicative. Talk with your
children. Be patient, kind and
loving. Discipline shows love and that
you care. Boundaries show control and
concern. Saying “no” is okay. Know who your children’s friends are. Invite them over, talk with their
parents. Know where your children are,
what they are doing and who with. They may
resist but don’t give up. Pray for
guidance, ask the Father to intercede, be willing to compromise, be willing to
change if the Father asks you to. It is
okay to make mistakes; it makes us human in the eyes of our children, its ok to
admit that you were wrong and ask for forgiveness. It also instills your respect of them. It
builds their self-esteem and self worth.
Your child is Gods gift
to you, what you do and how you do it is your gift to your child. Take the time, it’s worth it.
In the end it won’t
matter how much money you’ve made, the kind of car you drive, the house you
live in, the clothes you wear, the only thing that will matter is that you made
a difference in the life of a child.
Commission is a conjunction of the two words command and mission. For all of us with
children, or influence over children or in a position over children, it is
truly an awesome and powerful ministry to be trusted with His children. Suffer
the child… it’s our commission
AMEN!
Straight Talk
