Financial Discipleship – the Bible on ChildrenSample

On a warm spring day, I decided to take my son, Isaiah, to a new park to let him run out all the energy he had.

When we first got to the park, there was a playground with no one in sight. My 2-year-old pretty much took off to explore right away. About 20 to 30 minutes later, two ladies brought a group of five or six big kids, I’d say between 8 and 10 years old, maybe. They took over both areas of the playground quickly.

They weren’t causing trouble or anything. Just being kids, having fun. I thought about leaving, because I didn’t want Isaiah to get hurt. But I decided to just stay a little closer while he studied how the big kids got on the swings, climbed the ladders, and swung on the monkey bars all by themselves.

Before the big kids got on the swings, I steered him away from the empty swings and told him to stay away from them, because if he got in the way when someone was using them, he could get hurt. I did this about two or three more times before he made his way over to the slides and monkey bars… and then by some trees.

Ten minutes later, my son became re-interested in the swings, and to my dismay, he meandered too close. I saw exactly what was about to happen, and I repeated, “Don’t get so close to…!” I didn’t finish my sentence. I was only 5 feet behind him, but that was still too far away. Then, Bang! The next second, he was on the ground.

I quickly scooped my son up as he cried out. Thankfully, he stopped crying just one minute later, and he appeared like nothing ever happened. I think the look of horror on my face made him cry more than the pain from the collision did.

Needless to say, I regretted staying at that park. I kept lecturing myself for hours. Why didn’t we just leave? Why didn’t I just stop him from walking over to the swings in the first place? Why didn’t I pull him out of the way in time? How could I be so foolish?

I felt like such a bad mom. Like I should’ve been able to make a better decision.

I share this story with you because I was reminded of a few things that day that every parent needs to know:

1. You’re not the perfect parent.
   As parents, we do the best we can, but we’re still going to make mistakes. And it’s okay, because God never asked any of us to be perfect.
2. You’re not going to be there to protect your children from everything.
   We can do our best to stay close or teach our kids everything there possibly is to know. But guess what... Our best isn’t enough sometimes. And sometimes, our kids aren’t always going to listen.
3. You’re not alone.
   This was by far the most comforting truth the Holy Spirit reminded me of that day. When I fall short... when I’m not there... when my son has to get his wings and fly... God is there (Isaiah 54:13). He doesn't expect us to teach our kids on our own. That’s why we have Him and His Word to help. We just have to remember to rely on Him more often (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

So, dear parent, the next time you mess up... water yourself with as much grace as you can. God knows we need it, and He’s perfectly fine with that.

With thanks,

Melody Stampley

Content Specialist, Compass

(excerpt taken from the Compass Mother's Day Devotional, Day 5)