Sow Good Seed!
February 16
These commandments that I give you…impress them on your children.
Deuteronomy 6:6, 7
Bethany hiked along the same path each day. One day she encountered a litter of pups in the path. Instead of walking, each of them dragged their hind legs. As she walked they barked, playfully dragging themselves after her. Noticing an older woman watering a flower garden in the yard the pups had come from, Bethany crossed the short distance through the brush intending to strike up a conversation. The pups followed along, yipping at her feet. “I hope I’m not being too forward,” she began, “but I was wondering, why do your puppies crawl instead of walk?”
The woman smiled knowingly and nodded toward the side of the house. “Follow me,” she said, leading Bethany around the corner. There, lying in the shade on a cushion was a dog. Bethany could see she was fresh, and assumed her to be the mother of the puppies.
The woman called, “Dixie?” The dog rose and headed in their direction…dragging her hind legs. “She was hit by a car last year,” she explained. “And I couldn’t bring myself to euthanize her. She had them,” she continued, pointing at the pups, “and there’s nothing wrong with a single one of them,” she declared. “I’ve tried to get them to walk upright, but they want no part of it. They drag their hind legs because their mother does.”
†
The spiritual implication in today’s story is a sad, yet unnecessary fact. Children neither understand nor care when harmful, destructive, or limiting behaviors are being modeled for them. All they know is that Mommy and Daddy are doing it and that’s what they want to do.
If we live carelessly so will our children. Our character defects will be inadvertently, or heedlessly, passed on to our children. If we fail to teach them how to walk uprightly, with good moral character and spiritually-grounded ethics and values, they will reap a harvest of our sowing.
We reap what we sow—much more is reaped than was sown—and it will be reaped long after the sowing. Our children deserve a beneficial harvest.
Prayer
“Help me be the best example I can possibly be for my children and the world, Lord. Guide my words and deeds. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
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