(reposted from old blog)
I did not turn out a successful homeschool graduate because of anything my parents did or did not do. I am not a christian today because my parents went to church and led family devotions. I will not homeschool my children because my parents homeschooled me.
My dad has a talk that he gives at homeschool conventions on personal devotions. Why they are important, how to have them and how to develop the habits of personal devotions. This talk covers daily bible reading, reading the bible in a year, praying, etc. I grew up reading my bible daily, reading it through in a year and all those things. I did them because I had to and because it made my parents happy. I was a christian and I did get good out of my devotions. But after becoming more independent and leaving the direct authority of my parents the focus shifted. Without the need to do so, either to avoid discomfort or to gain approval my personal devotions changed. I entered into a period of searching for the perfect devotion program and just to let you know I haven’t found it yet. In fact I’ve stopped looking because I don’t believe it exists. Instead I find myself reading my bible and praying. I am not doing it every day but I am doing it regularly. The reason that I believe I still make it a habit is not because of any of the training on how to “do” devotions but instead I do it now because I caught the vision. I can remember waking up, trotting down the steps to go to breakfast and seeing my dad in the living room. Sitting in his recliner with his bible open on his lap and a prayer list beside him. I saw this as a regular occurrence. Granted about half the time he was asleep. But the point is I grew up with the knowledge that this was an important thing to do. My dad had and has a vision for daily devotions. I caught that vision by witnessing my dad work out that vision in his own life. I am now working out that vision in my life. The vision remains the same but how it works out in our unique lives is different. It wasn’t just my dad who passed this vision on to me it was also my mom. She didn’t fall asleep in her recliner, instead I saw here bible on the night stand every time I went in my parents room. It remained in the same spot, the only thing that changed was the bookmark that slowly and surely made it’s way from one side of that black book to the other. Those two picture of what my parents did inspired that vision in me. Their vision shined through into their daily life and that is what I caught. I caught the vision and I had to work out how to implement it myself.
This is the key to raising Godly children. Your priorities in life will have the greatest impact on your children. It’s not what you say it is what you do, day in and day out that makes a difference.
