Sunday, December 20, 2009

Your Child May Grow Up to be a Doctor . . .

About a month ago, I was attending a college Ladies Bible Study. We were discussing what God desires in the home, from the roles of the husband and the wife to our responsibilities as parents. One comment that really struck me was the following: "Your son or daughter may grow up to be a doctor or whatever else, but what really matters is where they will spend their eternity." Wow! As a parent, sometimes it is easy to be so concerned with the physical things of this world, that we can lose our focus on what is really important. Would it be great if Ella grew up to be a doctor? Sure, but would it be great if she grew up to be a doctor, and chose not to follow the Lord? No!

At our congregation, we do a program for the children where the children study Bible facts for just a few minutes before our evening service begins. At the end of the session, the children complete two important statements:

  1. "A successful life  . . . is a life that gets me to heaven."
  2. "When I grow up . . . I'm going to marry a Christian."
These statements, while simple, help focus our children spiritually. The world doesn't measure success the same way we should as Christians. We are successful if we lead lives that will get us to heaven, whether we are a doctor, a lawyer, a CEO, or a stay-at-home mom. Marrying a Christian should help us lead that life to gets us to heaven. I certainly know I have been blessed by my husband, and I'm thankful that together we are trying our best to raise Ella in the Lord.

2 comments:

  1. Great post.

    Our church held weekly "Mom-meetings" for a while, where all of the young mothers would get together with the older ones and ask for help and advice. The older mothers did a session on praying for your little ones and talked about the power of statements like the ones you listed in this post.

    I think it's important not only for our children to make those statements, but also for us as parents to make sure we are praying about those things for our children. I often look at my little ones and say a quick prayer that they will one day find a good Christian wife and that they will be Godly men.

    It seems strange to be praying for their future marriages already at such a young age, but I know there is power in those words :)

    Great post!

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  2. Thank you!

    The "mom-meetings" sounds like a great idea. I know that I can certainly benefit from older Christian women.

    I also think praying for our children is one of the most important things we can do for our children. I also pray for Ella's possible future spouse and that she can find a Godly man.

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