DAY 143 - Of Little Children and Big Dreams

Proverbs 22:6 (NASB)  ⁶ Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

I have always thought this verse meant teach your children the right things and they will turn out all right. Or, even better I thought, raise your children in church where you are sure your children will be taught the right thing and be sure they will turn out all right. You may not have noticed it, but children come to us wrapped in a big dream. When the gift of a child is received, the dream is also received that they will make it through the minefields of life and turn out all right.

But, listen more closely to hear what Proverbs actually says. The first hint of hearing differently is found in the Hebrew word konakh, which we translate “train up.” Normally the word means dedicate and is used in dedicating a home or temple. Most instructively, Hannah uses the word in I Samuel 1:28 saying she is dedicating her son to the Lord. Hannah dedicates her son to the Lord as a way of acknowledging that her son Samuel is a gift from God. Whatever “train up” means it begins with the recognition that our children are a gift from God. That is the foundation on which we build.

The second help in hearing differently is in the quirky phrase translated “the way he or she should go.”  That has been understood to mean according to the law of God in Scripture and according to our traditions. The responsibility of the parent is to bring the child into conformity with the rules that govern society. But, literally the phrase says “according to his or her way,” fitting to the child’s own personality and peculiar traits. Which way is correct? The way of obedience and conformity, or the way of individuality and independence?

To train up a child in the way he or she should go means we have been given a gift from God and we have also been given the responsibility. We have been given the responsibility to instill into that child a sense of God-given responsibility, so that even when he or she is old they will not depart from it. There is the dream. If we instill in our children a God-given sense of responsibility they are going to do OK. They are going to turn out all right. Right?

Well, not necessarily. We are not given guarantees. We are told what we can reliably expect. After that we simply keep the faith. We keep believing that we have sought to do the best we can with what we knew, as servants of God. We keep the faith and then we let the faith keep us and our children.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope September 12, 1999
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles