Pathways

In an old song, Dan Fogelberg writes, "Gone are the pathways, a child follows home.  Gone, like the sand and the foam."  As parents and Church leaders, we are in the business of making sure this doesn't happen.  So how?

I can think of several Scriptures that speak to this.  The first is, "Train up a child in the way he/she should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6)."  When I rehearse a wedding, I have a specific way I do it.  I place everyone in the wedding party in the position they will occupy during the real wedding ceremony.  That is where we begin the rehearsal.  Why?  Because I want them to know where they are going when they enter the wedding.  I then ask them to practice the recessional.  And, lastly, we practice the entrance, made easier because they know exactly where they are going.  The same is true for children.  We train them up, telling them where we, and those in our household, stand.  We don't leave them to their wits, the wiles of the world, their peers, or the enemy to teach them where to stand.  That is our job!

The second Scripture that leads me in teaching children is, "I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in the truth (3 John 1:4)."  Do you get the nuance here?  In Western thought, we are all caught up in information.  The words of teaching are our greatest focus.  In Middle Eastern thought from Jesus' day, the idea was not just information ... it was application.  Knowing the truth is one thing.  Walking in the truth is another.  For our children, I pray they will learn to walk in the truth.

So standing and walking are both important for our teaching and leading children.  But there is another important part to making sure our children become all they can be.  And this one is very simple.  It is expressed in the words of an old Carolyn Arends song.  "We grow up so innocent and wise, till we cut the world down to our size.  We still have that wonder in our eyes.  Maybe that's why Jesus said to come, with the faith we had when we were young.  Letting our imaginations run."  The Scripture is from Matthew 18:3, and is a reminder that childhood faith is both desirable and endorsed by Jesus.  This morning I had a chance to watch one of our older children ring the Sanctuary bell.  The child might have balked at this because we have somehow conveyed the idea one can "grow out" of this fun activity.  It was such a blessing to see the joy in those eyes as the bell tolled.  

Standing in the truth, walking in the truth and living in the joy of the truth seems like a great recipe for entering a messed-up world.  I have to admit ... I had to ring that bell a couple of times myself.  It seemed to clear my head and send the demons of a crazy morning packing.  Try it sometime.  Don't let the world or the expectations of so-called "adults" downsize your faith.  Faith has been given to you to be boundless and filled with the dreams of God's kingdom on earth, just as it is in heaven.  AMEN