On Sunday, the pastor at my church spoke on Solomon, but took a stance I had never heard today. He asked us, what kind of parents must Solomon have had to make him choose wisdom as the one trait he should have above all others. David and Bathsheba must have been the kind of parents that knew what things to spend time on and what things could be left alone. If we spend all of our time telling our kids they need to look good, or study hard, or play competitively, then we're going to end up with kids who value looks, intelligence and competitiveness above all else. These traits are not, in themselves, bad traits, but they shouldn't be the most important of all. If, instead, we spend time teaching our kids the kinds of values we want them to have - the fruit of the spirit and qualities such as that, then we might end up with kids who, if asked the question what do you value most, come up with the answer that we wish they'd give.
I'm also reading a book that Eric lent me called The Blessing of a Skinned Knee. I haven't finished it, but appreciate its take on not overprotecting children based on Jewish principles. If we work to hard keeping our kids sheltered from LIFE, then they won't ever learn how to live. Great thoughts to consider, I think.
No comments:
Post a Comment