Protect Your Child’s Heart

  As a parent, one of the things we should strive for is to protect our children’s hearts.  For me as a pastor, I am continually asking God to move my children forward in their faith, and to make it personal for them and not merely an extension of being a “preacher’s kid”.   There is a family we have been assisting as a church, who has a teenaged son battling cancer – we’ll call him “K”.  We are connected to him and his family through the school where we meet for church.  This morning, my youngest daughter Kenzie, who is 6, came to me with a handful of pennies – I was working at the computer trying to get some things done, and she said, “Dad…I want to give these to K’s mom today.”  I asked her why, and she replied, “Cause her son is having to have all those surgeries and stuff, and I want to help.”  My initial reaction was to tell her that a few pennies wasn’t going to help them with their medical debt – that it was just too large for a few pennies to make a difference.  Thankfully, the Holy Spirit intervened before my thoughts reached my mouth…   You see, it wasn’t about the amount of money.  It was about Kenzie’s heart, and the giving spirit that the Holy Spirit continues to foster in her.  As I was about to respond to her, the Holy Spirit altered my thinking and reminded me that for her, this was about playing a part in a kingdom issue.  I looked at her and said, “I think that’s awesome Kenzie.  We’ll go a little early to school so you can give them to her!”  The beaming face in front of me confirmed to me the right words had poured from my mouth.   Before Kenzie went into school, I went ahead of her to let the mom know what was going on.  I didn’t want her to be caught off guard by this precocious 6 year old with a handful of pennies.  I wanted her to know why I was allowing Kenzie to do this – that we were seeing God change her heart daily into caring more for others than herself.   So parents, guard and protect your child’s heart.  There may be times they make a request of you to allow them to do something and it may seem insignificant to you, or seem like a request that doesn’t really have an impact on anything.  Before you say no, ask the Lord if this is a heart issue for your child…it just might be a memory they make that results in a life of service to the kingdom.