I remember an old chest my mother had in her bedroom. I can still see the long dark blue velvet dress I would often put on along with her high heel shoes and parade around the house. I loved pretending I was Mom. Perhaps your children do the same thing. It always thrills our heart when we also hear them say, “When I grow up I want to be just like mom”, or “I want to be just like dad.”

Recently, I read a sobering thought I’d like to share with you: “Think about the kind of person I need to be so that when my kids grow up and ARE like me, I will like what they have become.” Wow! Doesn’t that stop you in your tracts and make you want to take an inventory of what your life is really like? Do you want your children to be like you or do you think some things really need to change before you can actually say that? Remember, children imitate what they see and hear and that can carry on throughout their lives.

The most important thing in our children’s lives is first of all becoming a child of God and then learning how to trust and obey Him, and loving Him with all their hearts. Is your life demonstrating this to your children, or is your inventory lacking in some area? My key verses ( Deut. 6:5-7) are worth repeating:

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart: And you shall teach them diligently unto your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk in the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.”