TBOC: Planting the Seeds

My blessings on Resurrection Sunday

We parents are given a promise from God: Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.- Proverbs 22:6

I don't know about you but I rely on this promise. I don't want my children to turn out like the many Godless and pagan children of our day. I want them to be Godly, and Set-Apart. So that means that I have to put in the work now. I know that it's not all about me though. No matter how hard I work with out God being the focus for it all, I labor in vain. See if I don't do anything then I can't hold God to His promise. Because it's not an blanket promise, it's not your children will turn out fine. It's a promise that starts with me doing the work. I have to plant the seeds so that I can reap the fruit. A verse that I hold on to and meditate on for encouragement is 2 Corinthians 9:6 "But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully"

Now if you're like me, then you're not sure how to go about this. I've got some ideas, but I'm still trying to figure it out. Occasionally I will see fruit from my labors, and that's when I know I'm on the right track. I take my very first cue straight from scripture.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. -Deuteronomy 6:4-9

These few verses tell us so much about how to train up our children. We are supposed to teach them diligently and constantly, verse 7. We are to bind them on our hands and between our eyes, verse 8. And we are to write them on our door posts, verse 9.


The way that we apply verse 8 is by memorizing scripture and using it daily. I try to teach my children that we are to do everything "as to the Lord" {Colossians 3:23}. The way we apply verse 9 is to have scripture all over the place. Especially in places where I need the encouragement like above the kitchen sink! In our living room we have a portion of Joshua 24:15 painted above a window so that we can be reminded of our family goal. Which is to love and serve the Lord. We also have a mezuzah on our front door post. A mezuzah is a small box like case that holds scripture and is affixed to a portion of the door frame.


As our children grow they will see these things and hopefully they will be aids in teaching them to obey the Lord. But I don't stop my training there. I still have verse 6 to apply! We do this through our family worship time, as well as during our homeschooling, and just for fun during play time.

We sing songs, read stories, and memorize scripture together as a family. We have some old hymnals that we got from church and we pick one song to sing for a month. This month we're singing He Lives. It's only been around two weeks and my three year old already knows most of the words. 

I also sing Sunday school type songs with my girls randomly through the day. I make sure to sing ones with a message that's easy to understand. Now my three year old can be heard singing a variety of different songs that are all pointing to God. My one year old will do the hand motions when she's thinking of a specific song.


When we do memory verses I try to think up hand motions that are easy to follow along with (and for me to remember lol). We usually keep repeating the ones we've learned in the past so we don't forget them. Also I had my oldest memorize verses like Ephesians 6:1 "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right" Then when she needs to be corrected for disobeying I make her recite the verse. I want to make sure that everything I do is pointing back to God, especially correction. When I praise my girls I want to use scripture as well but I'm still trying to figure out good verses to use. Obviously each situation would need different verses. 


These are the ways we choose to plant the seeds of God's word into our children's hearts from an early age. I won't know how this pays off until my children are grown. But I have seen that when I am consistent with them and really work on feeding them the Word of God then they have better attitudes and are more consistent with behaving.


But even with the best laid plans things can fall apart. That is why I pray for my children, our day, and that the Lord would show me what He wants me to teach them. When I pray for my girls I pray that the Lord would give them hearts that are like the "good ground" {Luke 8:15}. I know I can not do it on my own. I'm not patient, or gentle, or even very good at being consistent. But with help from my Heavenly Father I can do all things!


What ways do you plant the seeds of God's word into your children's lives?

I'm linking up at The Better Mom