Scripture for Little Hearts

This post was originally going to be about how I discipline my girls. I was going to tell you about how we have one major rule in our house that is repeated when necessary, but in thinking about how to develop the post, I realized I really needed to go much further.

You see, our major rule is "Children obey your parents, for this is right," which is a shortened version of Ephesians 6:1.  When the girls are acting up, I ask them, "what's our verse?" and they recite it to me. Yes, even the little one.  They pretty much always stop their behavior right away, apologize, and continue playing in a better way. It amazes me how scripture can cut through a bad situation like that.  We didn't always do it that way, and we didn't always have those good results. It was when we began pointing the girls back to what the Bible says that we saw a change in their little hearts and in our home.

Don't get me wrong; the Bible has always been a big part of our home life. We read it, talk about it, sing about it...you know, all the regular stuff you might imagine a Pastor's family might do. ;)  But we hadn't really considered that the children could memorize and apply it to their lives at this age. I don't know why this didn't occur to us; they can certainly memorize every song they hear on VeggieTales, and the eldest could recite "Where the Wild Things Are" by the time she was two.  I blame my lack of insight on the sleep deprivation.

Anyway, once we started pointing them back to scripture the change was huge. Not just in exacting the behavior we wanted from them, but in the way they looked at a situation.  When scripture is applied there is a realization that their behavior was wrong, there is remorse for the action, and repentance. And that is ultimately what we hope for with our children; repentance. 

The Bible talks about this subject. (Again, why didn't we get this sooner? I Dunno.)  Proverbs 22:6 says.
"Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it."
Ephesians 6:4 says, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."  The book of Deuteronomy is chock-full of instructions to parents to teach the word and the law to their children. Hmm...

The overarching theme here is that Scripture is integral in the raising up of our children. Not just in the times of discipline, but simply throughout our daily lives. Deuteronomy 11:19 says "Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."  To apply this to our lives, we might say we should teach it to our girls while we're eating our toast at the breakfast table, when we're driving in the car, when we've slammed our thumb in the dryer door and we're reciting the fruit of the spirit through clenched teeth (what, you don't do that? ;) ), when we're washing away the dirt from their day of play, or when we're snuggling them close before bed, or when they wake up in the morning ready to do it all over again. In all of it, we are not only living scripture, but we need to tell it to them, too, so that they know that the direction of our lives is not just because we're nice people, but it is because of the direction the scripture, the very Word of the Lord, gives us.

 Please, don't misunderstand me now. I am not saying you should go memorize a few good verses to hit your kids over the head with on a daily basis.  What I am actually saying is that you should immerse yourself in the Word, and let it speak to you, and change your life. It should become such an ingrained part of you and your relationship with God, that sharing it and teaching it to your children  is a natural extension of who you are.  So, it isn't just scripture for their little hearts; It's for your little heart, too.