"You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body."
- C. S. Lewis
Makes us think, huh?
When our child is born, we are enamored with every inch of that precious little body.
- We count fingers and toes.
- We determine which family member each tiny feature resembles.
- We feed that body. We bathe it, powder it, caress it, rock it, comfort it.
- We take great pains to be assured it is well nourished, well exercised, well trained, well groomed, well dressed, free of germs, rashes, infection and disease, broken bones, scars, and crooked teeth.
- We beg God to keep that little body protected from all harm.
But that soul, that precious soul... the most important part:
- that embodies who that child is,
- that lives throughout eternity,
- that communes with the God who gave it life,
- that lives within that shell we call the body,
- that our eyes can't see...
We must not neglect this most vital part of our child.
To love our child fully is to nourish that soul with the same determination as we do that body:
- with lots of prayer,
- by the teaching of God's Word,
- by singing songs of truth and praise to our Heavenly Father,
- by stirring the awareness of the child's own sinful heart and his desperate need of a Savior,
- by allowing our child to fail, to suffer, to experience loss, with us at his side, and then teaching him to trust in our Heavenly Father, who is totally trustworthy, when those times of adversity come,
- by making it a big deal to be a part of a covenant family,
- by glorifying and serving God by serving others,
- by being parents who lead by example, loving the Lord our God with all our hearts and souls and might, keeping His commandments in our hearts, and teaching them diligently to our children, when we are hanging out at home, when we take walks together... or drive carpool, when we go to bed at night, and when we get up in the morning,
- and by begging God to protect that precious soul from all harm.
