More Than The ScoreSample

I strive to honor God with my life. I practice spiritual disciplines like praying, attending church, and other aspects of the Christian faith. I love reading the Bible. Did you know that no book has been translated, copied, or read as much as the Bible? I love that it contains comfort and care for every human problem we will ever face. It is also my blueprint for how I operate my life. I believe it’s my responsibility to teach my sons about God through His Word. To do this, I do my best to plant the right seeds in their lives.

Getting the right seed in mind is the most significant piece of this puzzle. I think they start and end with love. The model Jesus teaches us – and one we most honor as His followers – is to love unconditionally. We have to know what we want to reap so we can know what to plant in the first place. We also know that nurturing those seeds to maturity takes time. Sometimes, this is a waiting game, and we need the patience to see it through. There are times when the seeds we plant can take years before they grow to full maturity. It can be a painstaking process. All the difficulties and struggles that life throws at our children can make it challenging for these seeds to grow as we’d like.

An essential element for us has always been to know what we’re planting and then just stay consistent. Sometimes, we simply need to keep sowing good seeds in our children, then react as best as we can when life’s storms and pests come against our children.

When I read John 15, I come to understand that when we’re attached to God’s vine, we will reap more than we can imagine. The laws of sowing and reaping come alive, as God applies this metaphor to bearing much fruit. Verses four and five say this:

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, 

neither can you unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in 

me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

If we want to plant good seeds in the lives of our children, we have to have access to those seeds. And, according to John 15, the only way to bear good fruit is by staying connected to the vine of Christ.