A Letter to Parents
Dear Parent,
I hope that this letter finds you well! Last time I left you, I shared Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” This verse is so well known, but at the same time, hard to fully grasp and understand. In the realm of parenting and having to make choices both big and small that impact my family, the path does not always feel straight.
This week, we have taken into consideration the destination versus the path. When it comes to thinking about the destination and the path, it is important to identify what these words mean within our families and how they apply to them. There is a possibility you do not use the word destination, but you could have goals, spoken or unspoken, for your family. These are the desires where you hope to see your kids or family end up or what you hope they can accomplish in life. The path is really any means or ways your family goes about accomplishing those goals or desires, or trying to reach that destination.
Parent, I hope you realize the importance of focusing on both the destination and the path with your family. The destination should be more than just hoping your kids or family members will end up in Heaven. Matthew 22:37-39 says, “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” These verses call us to more than just a head knowledge of who God is, but a call to loving Him with all of our heart, soul, and mind. Out of this, we see a love for our neighbors. When we have this depth of love, it is not going to be something we just have, but it becomes something we show and live out.
If that is the destination we aim for, we have to think about how we help get our families there. If we choose to select paths for our families, and kids specifically, that are minimally filled with Jesus and God’s Word, it does not seem reasonable to think that their destination will suddenly be filled with Jesus and God’s Word. Now, please hear me out. I am not claiming that your child must attend every church event or that they are not saved. I am asking you to consider the quality and quantity of biblical conversations, reading the Word, prayer, and worship that your child is engaged in.
If I were to encourage one thing, it would be to help your family, and especially your children, develop deep roots in their relationship with God. Everything that is on your family path is worth evaluating and taking into consideration because it will undoubtedly impact your family’s destination. Trust in the Lord, turn to Him, and rely on His calling and leading for your family. Turn this into daily conversations in your home. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 writes, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”