The Parental Gift that Keeps on Giving

Our world is not so different from that of our ancestors in the faith who lived in the first century CE. Believers then, as now, bemoaned the society’s acceptance of addiction, instant gratification, and self-indulgence, and many other temptations common to the Greco-Roman world. So what was a parent to do, in helping a child to avoid the seductions of society? What parental gift would arm a young person to fight the spiritual battles? How can children today be prepared to face the evils in a world that does not know or value God’s teaching?

No Effortless Success

The story of the children of Israel in the wilderness revealed that the challenge of internal enemies was greater than that of external enemies. Paul used the example of the children of Israel to focus on the need for the gift of “self-control,” so we do not fail as some of them failed. Today, leadership training talks about the “competencies” needed for success. And often, “self-management” is at the top of the list. Are parents preparing their children for the hard work involved in achieving success? More