Hold Your Children’s Hearts Close

“I don’t ever want to leave you guys. Can I just stay little and not grow up?” Our daughter, Estellah Eve (age 6), said this recently, after her older brother, Ezekiel Thomas, just turned 8. She was fast-forwarding a few birthdays, and truly didn’t want to grow old enough to have to leave our “nest.”

My first reaction to myself was, “I couldn’t agree more! I wish you never had to grow up, leave, and face this harsh world.” I love our children little, particularly as our world, country, and laws decline and decay before our very eyes. I wish they’d never have to venture out.

Yet, every parent must ultimately surrender our children’s lives. They aren’t our own. They are on loan to us from God. We have to let them go into God’s Hands, whether it’s too early in life from a flash-flood, a tragedy, a sickness, or whether it’s after high-school as they enter adulthood.

Estellah’s remark reminded me of something my daughter, Makenah, said in 2003. Shortly before the Kansas flash-flood, Melissa and I had decided to home-educate our children. We set up the classroom in the basement, bought the materials, and attended a conference and all. Actually, it was Makenah who asked to be home-schooled for the 2nd grade (after completing Kindergarten and 1st grade at the public school). When I asked Makenah why she wanted to be home-schooled, she simply responded, “Because I just like you guys.” (Boy, that just punctured my heart!) She just wanted to be with us. She loved her family. Thank God!

Hold your children’s hearts close to yours, to their siblings, and mostly to God’s.

My wife, Inga, and I are striving our best now to “Direct our children onto the right path, so when they are older, they will not leave it.” (Proverbs 22:6) We pray together multiple times daily. We live out “No Bible – no breakfast; No Bible – no bed”. We have “Bible Time” with them almost every day, where they learn timeless Bible songs, learn true Biblical accounts, and memorize Scripture (over 33 verses already, thank God!).

Do all you can to pour into your children while they are young. Turn off the electronic gadgetry. Turn off the TV, and turn on your family. Cherish them intentionally. Make a memory. You can always make more money. You can’t always make more memories. They need you…now.

[KNOW GOD – no regrets] -Robert