Family Life Lesson

May our sons be like plants grown up in their youth; May our daughters be like corner pillars hewn out in fashion for a palace;

May our barns be full, furnishing produce of all kinds; May our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields; May our oxen be fully laden; May there be no breaking in to rob or going forth to fight, Or outcry in our streets. 

Blessed are the people who are so; Blessed are the people whose God is Jehovah. (Psalms 144:12-15, RecVer)

On 3rd October the Lord spoke to me these verses in a very subjective way as His promise concerning my children and all the children in the church life. This promise is for those whose God is Jehovah. Since Jehovah God is our God, this promise holds true to us and to me. The word of God never fails and this promise is true even today and it will be true in the coming days too. Many of these words will be fulfilled one by one. We are the blessed people because our God is Jehovah. 

This morning my son sent me a text message:

And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but nurture them in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.  Ephesians 6:4 (RecVer)

Footnote 1: Provoking children to anger damages them by stirring up their flesh. Not to provoke children to anger requires that a father deal with his anger by leaving it on the cross. In this way he is able to render suitable discipline to his children. 

Footnote 2: Admonition includes instruction. Parents should instruct their children with the word of God, teaching them to know the Bible. However, how the children develop depends on God's mercy.

Perhaps, he must have felt that I might have provoked him as I kept reminding him not to waste time sitting before the laptop if not for his schoolwork. There, definitely, was a chance of misunderstanding my words as I spoke out of genuine care and concern. So I accepted his message and replied back:

Amen.

Please forgive me if I provoked unknowingly.

Later, I went to meet him. And hugged and kissed him asking his forgiveness if I provoked him unknowingly. I also kissed my two daughters as a sign of showing my love and care for them. I have been doing this to all my children almost on a daily basis. They know my heart. May the Lord bless them all to be God-man children, loving the Lord, fearing the Lord, and being useful vessels to the Lord.

In parenting, there are many lessons to learn day by day. In fact, many of them are learned through mistakes and misunderstandings. I believe this is how the Lord has been perfecting us to be parents, and in the process, our children will also learn from us. This is all a part of family life, especially if we are believers in the true and living God.

May the Lord bless the families of all His children that His plan be fulfilled in us and through us.

And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. 

Genesis 1:26, 28