Building Godly Character Part 2- The Soil

The relationship we have with our children is the soil in which we plant the seed.

I have, in this clay soil of the Central Valley, sown seed and watched fledgling vegetables begin to come up only to die before the harvest. I'm slower than most- I tried the same thing 2 years in a row before deciding that we need to use the “Square Foot Gardening” method of bringing in good soil.





How is the soil you are working in? By that I mean how is your relationship with your children? Sometimes we need to just slow down, look into our children's eyes and smile. Sometimes we need to play plastic animals with them (yes, I watch the clock at those times), see what the underside of the coffee table looks like, cuddle, read aloud- whatever ministers to them and grows your relationship.

This can be a real effort for me- especially the slow down part. I am always working on this and praying about this.

But then, what is the alternative? We can plant in poor soil, work really hard with the plants trying to fix all the diseases and whatnot only to get a poor harvest at best. Or we can bring in the good stuff.

If you feel like you are not connecting with your little ones and things are really hard, this might be a place to start.

We can pray for each other on this one. : )