Treasures

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

It is that time of year again – caps, gowns, ceremonies, parties, announcements.  Graduation is just around the corner.  There has been lots of talk around the office about the sermon for that special Sunday and the one thing you want to tell graduates before you send them out into the world.  Picking just one thing is impossible because there are so many things to remind them about.  So, how about a list of fifteen important things to start with a little earlier in life than graduation?  Yesterday we took a look at seven things we can teach our kids to value more than possessions and today we will look at the rest of the fifteen things. 

• Determination – Life is full of challenges.  Help your kids learn to meet them head on and not back down easily.  It will help them set high goals and accomplish great things.  It will help them to never stop dreaming and striving when others around them are giving up easily. 
• Quietness – Sometimes just being still and quiet helps us to reflect on our lives and think through situations to make better decisions and choose the right paths. 
• Hard Work – Most people just see hard work as a way to get what they want such as a paycheck and a certain lifestyle.  There is nothing wrong with that of course, but we need to teach our children that not only does hard work pay off, but sometimes the hard work is the payoff.  We will not be compensated for all the hard work we do in life and kids need to know the value is in a job well done, or helping someone, or sometimes just doing the right thing!
• Justice - Life isn’t fair. It never will be – there are just too many variables. But when a wrong has been committed or a playing field can be leveled, I want my child to be active in helping to level it… not hoarding power over another just to stay on top.  
• Art – Teach your kids to appreciate beauty.  Personally, art can be a way for them to be creative and expressive.  Animals
• Animals – Help children treat animals with care and respect and oddly enough, it will help them learn how to treat people with care and respect. 
• Affection – Love should not just be felt, it also needs to be expressed to be fully enjoyed and realized.  Teach your kids how to give and accept affection.  Some kids naturally shy away from hugs and kisses, so make sure you show affection to them every day.
• Themselves – Children need to value themselves enough to have self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth.  Of course we don’t want them to think more highly of themselves than others, but kids who have a strong self-worth grow up to be adults who respect their values and stick to them. 

Values are perhaps the most important thing we can instill in our children besides a love for and understanding of God.  Kids will learn more by watching you and seeing you react to life than they ever will from anything you try to tell them.  Teach them the values and reward them for right behavior but always remember to model the values you want them to embrace.

Scripture to claim:
Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.  Isaiah 46:4

A Mother’s Legacy

But as for you, continue in the truths that you were taught and firmly believe; …so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.
2 Timothy 3:14a; 3:17 

A Legacy is something handed down from an ancestor or a predecessor or from the past; something someone has achieved or an influence they have shared that continues to exist after they stop working or die - a legacy of freedom or, the war left an enduring legacy of bitterness and suspicion. A  Mother's Legacy is the unique influences, perceptions and gifts a mother passes on to her children.   Mother’s Day is this coming Sunday so this is a good time to pay tribute to mothers and to reflect on the legacy we are leaving our children.

A mother’s legacy may consist of values, self-concept, identity, world view, sense of power, role, etc. It is usually of enough importance to her that she wishes to see evidence of it in the way they choose to live their lives.  She feels is of enough importance that she wants them to remember for the rest of their lives.  It is imprinting our children’s lives with our own through the unique relationship of motherhood.

The uniqueness of a mother’s legacy is different than any other legacy she will leave.  The mother connection is deeper and stronger than wife, friend, son, daughter, or co-worker.  A child is an extension of the mother and her legacy. 

• It is a soul connection.  A portion of the mother’s heart and soul go with the child and a spiritual union is formed.  Therefore the legacy of a mother is stronger and deeper than any other legacy a woman leaves. 
• She has much more invested in this legacy and the long-term effects will be greater than in any other part of her life. 
• She will have family, friends and co – workers who remember her after she is gone, but they will not likely be living their lives a certain way because of something she taught them.  Their lives will not be transformed by her.  They were probably set in their ways when they met her. She sets her children’s ways when they are young. 

Even if they are much different as adults than she could have imagined, they still treasure many elements of her legacy in their soul.  They are her legacy. 

The legacy of a mother is sometimes a direct result of the intuition she has into their heart and what God may have planned for her child/children. 

A mother partners with God to train up her child in the way he/she would go…She will be sensitive to their individual gifts and personality.  She will be aware of their nature and what strengths they have.  She will offer encouragement and wisdom that will help each of her children individually.   She knows what they need.  She feels what they need. 

A mother spends most of her adult life thinking about and performing tasks related to her children and their well-being.  It is a hard job but a very special position to gain.  Being a mother is special.

Scripture to Claim:
Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it.  Proverbs 22:6 (Amplified Bible)