February 15, 2011

Your Child is Bent

One of the most quoted scriptures on parenting is Proverbs 22:6: Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Every boy and girl is created with a unique God-given design. The words right direction or the way come from a Hebrew term that means "the natural bent." The Creator has designed the personality, intellect, and heartprint of every human being. He has purposefully made your child with these propensities; it's our job to discover his or her natural bent and affirm it as God's handiwork. Remember the old saying, "God don't make no junk!"

I like to compare a child's natural bent to the curves of a tree trunk. And oak is destined to be an oak before the seedling pops above the soil. Its genetic properties are determined; it's not going to turn into a squash, for God has designed it to be an oak. Even so, as that oak matures, the environment to some extent will shape it with wind, rain, soil, and other properties.

The same is true of your child: God has purposely created him with a particular nature; you must shape, mold, guide, and affirm that design. This is a biblical balancing of the classic "nature vs. nurture" debate. We nurture what God has created; we discover our child's bent - tendencies, interests, giftedness, and passions - then embrace and develop them. When we do, we partner with God in fulfilling His purposes for our child. As the child grows older, he will know the way he was meant to walk.

-Excerpt taken from Connecting with Your Kids by Timothy Smith


Meet beautiful Maya:

And her flower:
The "Maya" Flower

1 comments:

Seana said...

This was beautiful, thanks for sharing! loved it!

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