Judges 13:12

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?" Judges 13:12 .

The supreme question which parents should ask. A question which God permits to be pat to himself. God alone can know the true way of training a human life. It is in vain to ask God's guidance after the foundations of the life have been laid and its policy has been determined upon. The child is to be trained up from its earliest moment. There is a sense in which there is no time of unconsciousness to the child: we are making impressions even when those impressions are not accompanied by acts of intelligence. Surely blessed is that child who has never seen anything in father or mother that is not true, beautiful, and good. It would seem the easiest thing in the world to train a child; in reality it is the most difficult. Every child has its own peculiar psychology. Every child has its own peculiar motive, impulse, vision of things, and purpose. The very wisdom of God is required in the right training of children. But the child cannot be trained aright until the parent has a correct conception of life itself. If life is a question of this world, of immediate health, wealth, and enjoyment, then the policy of child-training is easy and simple enough; but if life here is but the beginning of real life, if the present state of existence is but a gate opening upon true destinies and illimitable spheres of action, then light from above is needed, and guidance and comfort from the Father of all men. Let parents be encouraged to consult God about child-training. Let every child be the subject of special prayer. Let the parent be able to say, should occasion arise, to each child, "I have prayed for thee," as Christ said to Simon Peter.