A Crooked Flower

Early this month, my husband and I had the wonderful privilege of keeping our four grandsons (ages one, four, six, and eight) while their parents went on an anniversary celebration trip. Now, just to be clear— we didn’t do it alone but had lots of help from other family members, for which we are immensely grateful. I wanted to take a few moments to talk about my weekend because I was reminded of something so very important.

On Saturday afternoon, my husband was with the four-year-old outside digging up potatoes and doing other various things that needed done. At one point, they came inside and my grandson came traipsing over to me in his muddy rain boots, holding out a flower. It was the broken, crooked piece of a fall mum but I thought it the loveliest thing in the world.

As I reflected on this moment (and on the whole weekend, actually), I was reminded of what a precious gift children are.

I was so dismayed recently to hear the dialogue of a TV show where a woman stated something like this: “I want to do something more important with my life than stay home and raise children”.

Oh, what a deception! Is there anything more important than raising the precious children that God gave to us?

Children, left to devices, tvs, and a school system that hates God, have been easy targets for those who seek to change a society. Especially in families that never talk about what little eyes are seeing and little ears are hearing.

So many moms and dads, busy and exhausted from their own commitments, have little time left over for their own children. What time they do have is taken up with sports and lessons and other activities. There is little time left for pointing little ones to scripture and teaching them the things of God. Little time left to counteract and rectify the wrong lessons and errant viewpoints they are absorbing from the world. Oh, how vulnerable these little children are to Satan’s subtle tricks and to the enticement of the world.

And what a valuable commodity. For children become adults who will either be for or against God’s Kingdom. What they learn as little ones is what they carry on into their lives. But for the grace of God, most will follow the examples given to them as children.

Oh, may we make make our children (and grandchildren, too) our priority. For all too soon (so soon!) they will be grown and raising kids of their own. The love and lessons given in the few short years they are at home will impact the generations coming after us for many years. How important it is that we do not let temporal good things keep us from the eternal best thing.

A crooked flower is one of the most beautiful things in the world, if we but choose to see. The glitter and gold of this world will fade away, but the things done for the Lord will never fade away.

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That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. (Titus 2:4-5)

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I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. (3 John 4)