The fruit of our labor

You know how people always refer to the past as "the good old days", I have been thinking about that recently. Were those days really that good, better even? I mean look at how much we have accomplished, and how much needed change has come since those days. So what was so good about it that we long for those days once more?

It hit me as I stood watching the animals, children and garden. The lack of technology taught farmers/parents/society that they had to work hard and nurture the things and people around them, to receive the fruits of their labor. It wasn't so much that people were better back then as it is that we have lost that reality. We live in a microwave world where everything needs to be done in 60 seconds or less.

There is nothing on a farm that gets done that quick and it's the same with raising kids. We have forgotten that the effort is on us as parents (not teachers, youth pastors, day care facilities etc). Much like a garden we need to plant the seeds, but to do that we much plough the land first, that's not easy work. So how do we plough the land when it comes to our kids? We begin when they are babies and we take the time to play and laugh and hug and kiss and read and talk and walk and run and soon explore. But the most important is discipline.

All of these phases are necessary to prepare them to actively participate in learning. They cannot go through life without being disciplined or they will never learn self discipline. But it is not an overnight thing, it takes time and requires consistency on our parts - yet further learning of our own self discipline. We all want well behaved children, who work hard, enjoy life and grow to be successful. The trick is that we have to discipline ourselves, to discipline our children to stay the coarse and reap the fruit of our labor.



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