We read in Proverbs 22:6 these words:

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

In Ephesians 6:4 Paul tells us:

And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

The Bible talks about children quite a few times. Jesus admonished His disciples for not allowing the little children to go to Him, because He said Heaven is made of such as these.

Being a grandmother has given me more pleasure than I could ever have imagined, although I loved and do love my own children. It’s just that I’m older now and more patient and appreciative of the children since I don’t have to worry about raising them full-time.

My big regret is our son lives in Texas and we get to see our two grandchildren from him only about once a year. We’ve missed a lot of pleasure with them.

Our youngest grandchild is now five and a half years old. I can remember taking him to the school to pick up his older sister and letting him get used to walking in the grass, as he was afraid to step on it.

I remember the joy of watching him discover “bufflies” (butterflies) and him chasing them. I remember his fascination with blowing the white off dandelions after I had taught him how to spread this weed.

I remember how interested he was in feeling the crunch of fallen leaves under his feet for the first time and him chasing them when the wind blew.

Watching birds and squirrels in the yard through the window on cold days was such a pleasure, and it’s all because I was seeing the world for the first time again as a child.

The sweet innocence of children. That’s what Jesus was talking about when He said to allow the children to come to Him because Heaven was made of these things. He meant the sweet innocence of faith and belief that we lose as we get older. He didn’t mean only children will go to Heaven, but that we have to have the faith and innocence of a child to believe, by faith, what God has done and continues to do for us daily.

Ryan is interested in Star Wars characters now. He’s not allowed to see the movie until he’s 8, he told me. He’s been begging my husband for some little Star Wars characters so he can play with them. My husband bought some but then told him he’d spent enough money on them and wasn’t going to buy anymore. Ryan offered to break into his piggy bank for the money but my husband told him he’d better discuss that with his Mommy and Daddy.

That night I got a telephone call from Ryan asking if Dah was here. Dah wasn’t at home at the time, and I told him he wasn’t. Then came, “Will you get Dah to buy me some more Star Wars characters, or do you want me to do it?”

Needless to say, my heart melted. We got Dah on the cell phone and discussed it with him and came up with the following solution:

Ryan would walk our cocker, and not let her loose, and he would clean the toilet bowls (don’t ask me why, but he loves to clean toilet bowls), in return for Dah buying the Star Wars characters.

We set up chores for his sister also so she could have some extra spending money on a Safety Patrol trip she’ll be taking right after school gets out.

We keep the kids every other week-end at night and this is our week-end to have them.

When they came over Friday night Ryan went right to work walking the cocker. We decided to have him do the toilet bowls on Saturday. In his five year old innocence he couldn’t understand the concept of us lending him the money and his working it off. He told me if he didn’t have money he couldn’t pay, so after trying to explain it we decided to have him finish up his chores, I’d pay him $7 and he’d give that $7 to Dah as a partial payment for his Star Wars characters. We’ll keep handing the same $7 back and forth until his debt is cleared and then he can put the money in his “money jar”.

The point I am trying hard to make is that Ryan’s and Ashley’s parents have paid them an allowance but they have to do chores to get it and if they want something they have to pay for it themselves or have the money loaned to them and they have to pay it back.

They are training up their children in the way they should go, and they realize the value of money.

Our grandchildren in Texas also work for their allowances, which we deposit into a checking account for which they have the ATM card.

In addition, they tithe their allowance, which brings up another promise from God:

Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Malachi 3:8-10

May we all be as innocent as children.

Written by ~J~

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