“Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.  And teach them to your children and grandchildren…that they may teach their children.” Deuteronomy 4:9-10

Teach Your Children Well

Walk His Way Revisited
First Posted in July, 2014

God has not called me to be rich or famous or powerful. I’m good with that. In my estimation these things are slippery, deceptive, and potentially destructive. I have no illusions about my abilities, talents, and skills. I am a home grown, simple woman and do not aspire to grandeur or high position. I have no five-year plan. My dreams and desires are fundamental, but incredibly rich. I want to live a life that expresses love to God and love to those He has given me, whether by way of family, friendship, neighborhood, co-worker, or the stranger on the street. The Almighty has loved me and that has changed everything. I am commanded to love others.

I fondly remember my husband’s mother who came from humble beginnings and suffered loss and abandonment in her early years. She struggled to the point of sometimes having nothing to eat, suffering cold and deprivation. Yet this humble woman showed me what a woman of God looked like.  She exemplified faith to me when I was a newly married, searching, confused woman. She accepted me and loved me for who I was. I was rough and unseasoned in those days. I still had one foot in the world and was willing to experiment with whatever popular deception came along. Yet she never judged or criticized me. To the contrary, she encouraged me and told me in so many ways how she esteemed me.

When this woman prayed, things happened. There was nothing that she possessed that was not available to you if you had need of it. She was the first to plan a baby shower, or take a meal to the sick, or invite you to dinner, or just listen and wipe away your tears. She had Bible clubs in her home, she ran vacation Bible schools, she was a Sunday School teacher. She took foster kids – the ones no one else wanted – the maimed, the mentally ill, the helpless. She taught in labor camps for migrant workers. She was a warrior for the handicapped. She was tireless.

Deuteronomy 4:9 is my prime directive. I have been shown by example how to live it out. This woman affected her family for Christ. She lived what she believed. She taught not only her own children, but the children of countless other families. Her grandchildren esteem her godly example. We never think of her without feeling the love of God that she exemplified. She is my hero. She taught me more than preachers or sermons or stirring worship songs.

All this is to say that she is the sort of woman I want to become. I will never be able to fill her shoes, but she showed me how I can walk in my own shoes. She showed me how to run the race. The torch has been passed and now it is for me to take heed to myself, to not forget the things God has done, and to teach them to my children and my grandchildren – and anyone else who will listen.

Father, thank You for the faithful saints You bring into our lives. Thank You for godly examples of practical faith that show compassion, teach truth and glorify You. May we convey this godly heritage to future generations. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.