Mom Heart Moments #337

Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.

MANY YEARS AGO, I took Sarah, Joel, Nathan, and Joy to a children’s museum in Fort Worth. We were standing in line behind what appeared to be grandparents with a little boy of about five or six. As we stood waiting our turn to enter, the little boy suddenly lay down on the floor screaming, and when his grandpa tried to pick him up, the boy started slapping, hitting, and spitting on him.

Immediately all four of my children turned and looked at me, with eyes wide. When I asked why, Joel said, “Mama, don’t you know? We always look at your eyes to see what we are supposed to do and how we are supposed to react!”

Children naturally look to their parents for an example and model of what is expected. I believe one of the reasons God requires children to honor and obey their parents is so they will have an opportunity to practice what it looks like to honor and obey God.

I corrected my children because of the attitude I could detect —when they were willful or prideful or selfish in response to a person or situation —much more than I corrected for behavior.

But for a child to learn honor, a parent must display honor. The way we speak to each other and to our children should be with pleasant, loving words and voices. If we expect them to learn civility and honor, we have to exhibit it ourselves in the way we treat other people. When we do lash out in anger or raise our voices, we should always apologize. We must exhibit the same behavior we are expecting of them.

How are you modeling honor and obedience to God in your home by your attitudes and actions, so that your children will have a true picture to follow?