Mom Heart Moments #319

O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart.

OUR FAMILY HAS SPENT MANY HOURS around the piano and various instruments in our home, someone inevitably taking up music and another joining in. Lessons were just part of “being a Clarkson” for at least a year for each child as we felt knowing how to play something was important. Of course, merely having a piano in a home and allowing a child to bang on it will not produce a classical pianist! To become excellent in playing, the child must be instructed over a period of many years, and hours must be given to practice.

It also takes years of instruction to develop character. Because our culture is so given to crudity and a devaluation of human beings, as secular media dictates and shapes the values of children, many people reflect shallow character and lack wisdom and discretion. Couple this with a lack of intentional training on the part of parents, with moral compromise at every turn, and many children are at a disadvantage in their lives because they have never developed a strong moral character or seen one in the lives of the adults around them.

A child who is not trained and taught to exercise righteousness, a strong work ethic, and integrity will often be at a disadvantage his whole life, because instead of his character serving him, his lack of training and ignorance will detract from his ability to live in an excellent way.

I believe that many moms struggle with motherhood and the burden of raising children because they have never been stretched or trained in character. Character matters! Training excellent character into the very fiber of children takes intention, perseverance, commitment, wisdom —and honestly, it requires character from our own lives.

Do you feel your character was disciplined and trained during your own childhood? If not, how can you grow in that area now? If so, how will you pass it on?