Twenty-one years ago today, I was in that wonderful, exhausting, exhilarating and amazing process of getting to know my brand new baby boy. He was not the first. He was not the last. But he was perfect.
As I held him, looked into his eyes, relished in the contentment only holding a newborn baby can bring, I wondered what kind of person he would become. Would he be shy? Athletic? Smart? What would his voice sound like once he learned to talk. Would he be tall or short? Who in the family would he look like?
Now that he is 21, I know the answers to those questions. What a joy it has been to watch him grow. He has become a fine young man. He has chosen to spend his adulthood preaching the gospel to those who need to hear it so badly. Being a recent newlywed, he is learning what it takes to to be the head of his household.
God gave this little boy to us and gave us instructions on what to do with him. God told us to “bring him up in the admonition of the Lord”. God told us to train him “in the way he should go.” God told us to love him, to discipline him but warned us not to “provoke him to wrath”. These instructions are the same for all children for all times.
There are a lot of books/blogs/articles written giving all kinds of advice on child rearing. Some of it is common sense. Some of it is downright cruel. Some of it is just wrong. None of it is as good as the instructions found in the Bible.
One bit of instruction God gave was not directly given to the parents but was giving to older women. He instructed the older women to teach the younger women to love their children. So along with all the words of wisdom for raising children, God has requested one generation to pass down their knowledge learned by experience to the next generation.
What a beautiful concept. Those who have been there before share their successes and their failures with those who are just starting out. No professionals needed. No experts needed. Just the more experienced sharing with the less experienced.
It saddens me to see young women today seeking advice about their babies from other young women. It saddens me even more to see older women who are not willing to share their knowledge.
It has been said that when an elderly person dies so does an entire library. Everything they learned, everything they could have shared with others is now gone. If you find yourself in the older woman group, please be willing to share what you know with those who are younger. If you find yourself in the younger women group, please seek out the knowledge the older women have to share. It’s the best way. It’s God’s way.
“…the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.” Titus 2:3-5
Thank you for your kind remarks. It’s a difficult battle we face. Older women and younger women need to strive to build closer relationships with each other so that giving and receiving advice and admonishment is as natural as saying, “How are you doing.” It takes time and energy on both parts. Time is a gift we have that we all tend to be the stingiest with.
In the Godly, desired relationship within the church of which you speak, is unpopular which I think you probably are aware. I do not understand, I suspect feminism has infiltrated the church. This worldly doctrine is ripping at her very seams. It is out of love for God and thus His children we obey Him. In this worldly atmosphere in the church Christians no longer want to hear what God says about having a happy home, raising faithful children, and strong marriages. But this relationship between God, the older woman, and the younger woman is almost non-existent. Sadly my wife included have said, “they don’t need the headache of correcting the younger women.” Both are wrong before God. That relationship requires both, the older and younger to listen to God, first. Sadly was witness at an attempt to correct a younger woman, she raised her voice and said, “you need to listen to me!”
I wish you would write more on this subject, I do not have the format to do so, nor the time (really don’t want to), my punctuation is deplorable, and I can’t possibly know what I am talking about because I’m a man. Thank-you so much for this article, keep it up