Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 (ESV)
Over Thanksgiving, we had a lot of family around. We gathered one evening for a meal and were called together to pray. I was holding my great-niece (that makes me a great aunt!). As we stood in a circle and bowed our heads, I looked at her out of the corner of my eye.
She was tilting her head, straining to see around me and was looking at all the adults praying. She was so curious to see what everyone was doing. Now, I know she’s seen people pray before and I know she is being taught to pray but can you imagine what she was learning from watching this?
Was she looking at her extended family giving thanks to God and filing it away? Was she curious that everyone was joining in on this activity? Was she somewhere in her mind filing away that we bow before our Creator God and give thanks? Was she becoming aware that her family believes in giving thanks to Jesus?
As I pondered this, I remembered the today’s Bible verse and one other.
18 “So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors. Deuteronomy 11:18-21 (NLT)
Teach them in with your words but more importantly, in your actions and in every single thing you do. Teach them. They watch everything we do and will learn more from our actions than from anything else.