Solid Direction

Solid Direction

You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.

Psalm 16:11

The visiting missionary held his little girl’s hand as they waited for his wife in the foyer of our Michigan church. Various folk stopped to welcome him to the missionary conference, but one man scowled at him.

Instead of saying hello, he flipped the visitor’s tie and said, “Kind of fancy for a missionary, isn’t it?”

That grumpy man’s young son was watching. Is it any wonder the little boy later, in Sunday school class, told the missionary’s daughter she couldn’t play with the new game?

We have heard our values are more caught than taught. While we nod our heads and pay lip service to that, we sometimes forget its truth in practice. But before we can put our values in front of our children, we have to decide what those values are.

One of my favorite literary scenes with that theme is from Alice in Wonderland as the lost, confused Alice asks the Cheshire cat which way she ought to go.

“‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.

“‘I don’t much care where. . . .’ said Alice.

“‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.”

And that’s just the way it is for us as parents and grandparents, loving aunts and uncles, and concerned neighbors. Before we can decide how to get children on the right path, we have to know where we want them to go.

Do we want children to be kind, generous, and watchful for God’s touch each day? Then we have to lead the way. —SANDRA

Lord, help me to remember that I’m not just rearing a child; I’m shaping a life.

Everything that happens to me can help me along in my Christian life.

—E. STANLEY JONES (1884–1973), THEOLOGIAN AND MISSIONARY TO INDIA