To our children

Paul in 2Timothy wrote to Timothy, his spirit son, "I thank God...for thee....Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands, For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Tim 1:3-7)

God has presented a perfect way for us, parents, to deal with our children. Often time, I found myself overwhelming by the loaded tasks related to children rearing, I lost my patience, I demanded too much, nagging and shouting... But God shows us in above passage how we should motivate our children into HIS good works.

Not by nagging, threatening, stirring up fear or guilt, but by loving, reminding the God's gift in each and every child He has given to us and confirming them by putting our hands in them.

That is both a human oriented and task oriented approach.

Paul first gave thank for his spiritual son. How often do we give thanks for our children? and told them so? It is not enough to show our thankfulness to our children, more importantly, to God and let our this thankfulness known to our children. Even when there were time of difficulty, our thanks giving will lift us up from self-centerness, self-pitiness. When we fix our eyes on God, we may see beyond the temporary situation but God's eternal plan.

Paul then recognised that every spiritual gift is given by God. Every one has the gift of God, talents of all kinds. It is however parents' duty to confirm and give encouragement. We, parents, are to stir up the gift of God in our children. In order to do so, we have to attentive observe and patiently nurture a child's own path of development, not to be pushy, not to be neglect to every development of our children.

Finally, we have God's promise that God has given us the spirit of a sound mind, of love, and power. The sound mind is for us to exercise self control; the love is for us to extend to others with tender communication and patience; the power is for us to prevail in those difficult time.

Truly, our children are the gifts from God, and HE does care each and every one of them. "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,...who has saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace.". Even though we are not perfect, God has his own purpose and grace to assist us in this holy calling of being a parent.

May God help us!