Special Features Needed

Not too long ago I was looking for a replacement for my tired worn out sewing machine. I diligently read the listed features of each one I was interested in, noticing their strengths and weaknesses. Some had many different features on them: zigzag stitches, decorative stitches, stretch stitches, buttonholes and fancy embroidery stitches. Some could sew from one fabric to another without changing a thing and some seemed they could do anything from simple mending to practically cleaning my home! Each one had been specifically programmed to perform the functions the designer intended for them. I had a lot of thinking to do - what did I actually intend to do with my machine? What jobs would I require of it? What special features did I need?...What was I doing? I was checking out the qualities or features of the different machines, weighing their strengths and weaknesses. Each one had a particular strength or way it was to be used for best performance.

Hmmmm....Those of us who have children know perfectly well that they arrive programmed, if you will, toward doing wrong. They have a sinful nature. But the Lord intends to use each one with their own characteristics and features to do a particular, unique job that only they will be able to accomplish. It is our job to train them, to bring them up, and to encourage them. What will the Lord want them to do? Will they be prepared and ready or will they lack the 'special features' needed for His particular use?

Here's a list of some 'special features' I want to be sure my children obtain: attentiveness, obedience, diligence, contentment, neatness, reverence, forgiveness, gratefulness, faith, truthfulness, a sense of security, meekness, cautiousness and patience to name a few. These 'special features' will enable them to have good relationships with us as their parents, their teachers, and any employers they will one day be working for. They are vital for success in marriage and are the foundations upon which the maturing person will add another thirty or so important character traits later in life. Character provides the foundation a child needs in order to develop and maintain a good personal relationship with the Lord after salvation.

To develop character in our children, we need to know what we want to achieve. Then we can figure out how to accomplish those goals. Anyone can do it who keeps the goal in mind and follows through on a day-to-day basis. (That day-to-day thing is the hard part.)

The goal is to produce a disciplined life for the child ...do the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, with the right attitude even when he or she doesn't want to. Children have to be taught to do what is right - and made to do it.

Perhaps, you see some character lacking in your own life as I have in mine. Raising children is a great way to improve our own missing or insufficient character traits.

Have a blessed day,

Lori