Have you ever heard someone say, maybe even yourself, "I've become my father!" An utterance of exasperation I have spoken after yelling at one of my children. Whether we like it or not, as parents we are teachers. In truth, we are the primary teachers of our children.
"Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach". I Timothy 3:2
If you are a father, you are a teacher. In one way or another you teach your children values and behavior. You teach them by what you do and by what you say.
You have heard the expression, "Actions speak louder than words". What you actually do can show what you really believe. My dad used to say some not so good things about people when he was driving. I still haven't figured out why he had it in for bald guys who drove Ramblers. But, how my dad treated people was what taught me how to treat people. I learned to address people as Mr. and Mrs., Ma'am and Sir. Whether someone was his boss or his employee, they were my dad's friend, whom he treated with respect. My parent's moved a few times and each time dad would request this one pair of gentlemen. He called them Sir. Dad remember their names, asked them about their children. You could see the mutual respect come into their faces when he spoke to them as men doing their job. I learned how to treat people and that knowledge has enable me to have many good relationships with people I work with. The point of course, is that even though my dad said some pretty stupid stuff, what he did taught me. His actions were louder than his words.
What you say does matter, though. You must say the truth in love. It matters how you say things too. My family and I were doing a little geocaching and we hiked down into this little canyon to get a few caches. On the way back up my youngest son was getting tired and starting to complain and wanting to rest all the time. I got behind him and started talking him up the last part of the hill. I told him that he needed to learn to push through things when it got hard. I didn't yell, I kind of whispered almost in his ear. I just kept encouraging him that the difference between people who are great or who do great things and those who don't is the great ones learn to press on and to push through when everyone else quits. He dug in and pushed his way to the top.
What we do and what we say teaches our children the truths we want them to know and live by. Trusting God to, by his grace and power, help us to teach our children, is what we do.
Father, help us to trust you and teach our children to live by faith in your light. Praise be to you in us today!
