We take great pride in teaching our children to count, recite the alphabet, not to talk to strangers, say please and thank you, live honorably...the list is endless.
While all of these things are necessary for successful existence on this planet, they are not assurances of everlasting life. It is vital that we show them the Way.
The best time to teach a person anything is when they are young. For example, after an individual is grown, or after they think they are grown, it is too late to try to teach them to respect authority.
If all of their lives they have been allowed to act as they please and say whatever pops into their little heads, it is much too late when they are fifteen years old to demand respect...we won't get it.
So when they get into major trouble, and they will, we can’t blame the school system or the Church for not training them to respect God, family, country, and mankind. The most effective training will come from us.
This training begins with a desire to teach it. As eagerly as we approach every other subject, we must desire to teach our children, and more so as we see the day approaching. Sadly, some never seem to get it, and their children suffer the consequences.
One of my brothers describes this dichotomy of mindset as “the eagle and buzzard mentality...”
Just think about it...eagles build their nests in the tallest trees, and on the highest mountain peaks. Their young are birthed in the clouds and trained to soar.
The experts tell us that an eagle will remain under their young when they are learning to fly, just in case they are not strong and fall to the ground. From the high places the mother eagle is able to see for miles, detecting danger before it comes near the nest (Deuteronomy 32:11; Job 39:22-30).
We allude to this when we say that someone has an “eagle eye,” meaning they have a keen ability to watch and observe; sharp vision, maintaining a keen watchfulness.
The parent with the desire for an “eagle mentality” will bear their children up on their wings while there is life...in other words, when they are young and have not become entangled with error and rebellion.
The ‘eagle’ will not resist correction but will train their kids in the Way, teaching them to respect the elders and Mothers of the Church. The ‘eagle-eyed’ parent watches where the children go, who they go with, and what they listen to. They are protective of their offspring, and keep them from the dangers (false doctrine) of this world.
The opposite of the eagle is the buzzard. Putting it simply, buzzards are unclean birds which hover low to the ground seeking that which is dead. The buzzard will never reach great heights because their focus is on rotting flesh. They have become accustomed to the look, smell, feel, and taste of death.
“The buzzard mentality” is a lazy, laid-back ideology. They never learned to excel in the Spirit, thus are unable to lift their children to higher ground. Buzzards only eat dead meat, and their children eat from the same garbage heap, refusing to eat anything else.
At the sign of spiritual death and destruction, the ‘buzzard’ finally swoops down, hooking the eaglet in his grasp. The parent with this attitude becomes attentive only after their child has developed the same spiritual indifference. They cry for help, but the kid has heard so much negativity that they are not even interested in anything connected with the Church, and the parent wonders “why?”
The interesting thing in all of this...the eagle, buzzard, hawk, and vulture are the same specie of bird. In other words, though they are in the same family, one has learned to fly, while the other is content to hover.
Though the bird doesn’t have a choice (he just does what comes naturally), we can choose to stay close to the ground where corruption abounds, or we can choose to soar in the realm of the Spirit, taking our kids where only eagles dare to go.
As we think about the alternative, do we really have a choice?!
While all of these things are necessary for successful existence on this planet, they are not assurances of everlasting life. It is vital that we show them the Way.
The best time to teach a person anything is when they are young. For example, after an individual is grown, or after they think they are grown, it is too late to try to teach them to respect authority.
If all of their lives they have been allowed to act as they please and say whatever pops into their little heads, it is much too late when they are fifteen years old to demand respect...we won't get it.
So when they get into major trouble, and they will, we can’t blame the school system or the Church for not training them to respect God, family, country, and mankind. The most effective training will come from us.
This training begins with a desire to teach it. As eagerly as we approach every other subject, we must desire to teach our children, and more so as we see the day approaching. Sadly, some never seem to get it, and their children suffer the consequences.
One of my brothers describes this dichotomy of mindset as “the eagle and buzzard mentality...”
Just think about it...eagles build their nests in the tallest trees, and on the highest mountain peaks. Their young are birthed in the clouds and trained to soar.
The experts tell us that an eagle will remain under their young when they are learning to fly, just in case they are not strong and fall to the ground. From the high places the mother eagle is able to see for miles, detecting danger before it comes near the nest (Deuteronomy 32:11; Job 39:22-30).
We allude to this when we say that someone has an “eagle eye,” meaning they have a keen ability to watch and observe; sharp vision, maintaining a keen watchfulness.
The parent with the desire for an “eagle mentality” will bear their children up on their wings while there is life...in other words, when they are young and have not become entangled with error and rebellion.
The ‘eagle’ will not resist correction but will train their kids in the Way, teaching them to respect the elders and Mothers of the Church. The ‘eagle-eyed’ parent watches where the children go, who they go with, and what they listen to. They are protective of their offspring, and keep them from the dangers (false doctrine) of this world.
The opposite of the eagle is the buzzard. Putting it simply, buzzards are unclean birds which hover low to the ground seeking that which is dead. The buzzard will never reach great heights because their focus is on rotting flesh. They have become accustomed to the look, smell, feel, and taste of death.
“The buzzard mentality” is a lazy, laid-back ideology. They never learned to excel in the Spirit, thus are unable to lift their children to higher ground. Buzzards only eat dead meat, and their children eat from the same garbage heap, refusing to eat anything else.
At the sign of spiritual death and destruction, the ‘buzzard’ finally swoops down, hooking the eaglet in his grasp. The parent with this attitude becomes attentive only after their child has developed the same spiritual indifference. They cry for help, but the kid has heard so much negativity that they are not even interested in anything connected with the Church, and the parent wonders “why?”
The interesting thing in all of this...the eagle, buzzard, hawk, and vulture are the same specie of bird. In other words, though they are in the same family, one has learned to fly, while the other is content to hover.
Though the bird doesn’t have a choice (he just does what comes naturally), we can choose to stay close to the ground where corruption abounds, or we can choose to soar in the realm of the Spirit, taking our kids where only eagles dare to go.
As we think about the alternative, do we really have a choice?!
Allow me to encourage you today to never lose hope, for the Word of God is true...if you train them in the Way they should go, when they are old, they will not depart (Proverbs 22:6). And therein lies the key...train them...teach them the Way.
It may look as if all hope is gone. They may be as far from the Lord as one can be. We may feel as though we have failed them..."what could I have done differently?" But trust me, please...if you have done your part, we have the assurance that the Lord will do His part.
The Word that you deposited in them when they were but a young'un will not return unto Him void, but will accomplish and prosper all that the Lord sent it to do (Isaiah 55:11).
I am a witness, y'all...it works...!
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