To Be Kept In Mind!

There is a tendency among youth to act differently when outside the reach or view of their parents. Knowing this, good parents discipline and instruct their children in an attempt to instill character and wisdom that will aid in the personal decision making outside the watchful eye of their father and mother. Have you, as a teen, ever gone someplace or started to do something and began to HEAR YOUR PARENT’S WORDS? Though your parents were not right beside you, their instruction was JUST AS CLEAR as if they were speaking it right then and there. That is a good thing. It is a sign their words have been able to sink into your heart; something for which to be very thankful.

Solomon may have been describing such an experience in the following words.
“(20) My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching. (21) Bind them on your heart always; tie them around your neck. (22) When you walk, THEY WILL LEAD YOU; when you lie down, THEY WILL WATCH OVER YOU; and when you awake, THEY WILL TALK WITH YOU.” ( Proverbs 6:20-23 ESV)

There was a time when your parent’s hand literally led you. You gripped that hand tightly when crossing streets or when in crowded places. The feel of their hand leading you helped calm your fears and you knew they would get you safely to where you were going. However, a time came when you began to pull away, desiring to move freer on your own.

As a young child, when you rested, there was comfort in knowing your parents were close by and they would protect you from the “boogy man”. You did not like to sleep where they were not. Then the time came when you desired to stay over with a friend or sleep out in the backyard at night.

Remember the days when you went about your daily activities in the abiding presence of your parents there to talk to you, explaining things about life and instructing you on how to get along with others. Perhaps you moaned at the constant redirecting of your direction or actions and the correcting of your speech, though in reality it kept you out of more serious trouble. You may have rejoiced over the first opportunity to be involved in life’s activities without the voice of your parents ringing in your ear.

All that parental instruction, instilled in the heart and mind, can continue to LEAD, WATCH OVER, and SPEAK to us wherever we might be. Though I have been a parent myself, I still hear the voice of my parents and experience the guidance of the wise instruction they provided me while growing up. The older we get the more and more we generally recognize the wisdom of Solomon’s words. May we find continued comfort and encouragement in the guidance we have received.

Have a great day WELCOMING THE WISDOM THAT CAN WALK WITH US!
Carl

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