Day 22: Proverbs Road Trip

Proverbs 22:6: Train children how to live right, and when they are old, they will not change.

Chuck Swindoll, a pastor and author, helped me understand this verse in an entirely new light some years ago. It seems that the word “train” literally means the “bending of a bow”. When archery makers would make a bow they would attempt to “bend” the “stick” as it was already inclined to be bend. They didn’t work again the woods natural characteristics. In keeping the stick’s characteristics in mind, they simply worked with how it was created.

I share that and hope it makes sense because as my own family concludes it’s “summer road trip” to San Francisco I am reminded constantly that all for of my children are shaped and “bent” differently. Spending a week in a car with three teenagers, a twenty-something, and a wife can put any man to the test (as can spending a week in a car with a man like me!). I’ve been reminded again this week that each one of my family has incredibly wonderful “bents” that I can either enjoy or attempt to break

My goal today is to enjoy – not break – the God given bents in the ones I love.