Wisdom Treasure Hunt this Month

I took some time to consider what steps I’ve taken in searching for wisdom in teaching my young children repentance. I have a great desire to communicate that searching for wisdom is something we all can do. Even someone who grew up in a Christian home doesn’t have instant answers. Most importantly, it is God that does the work, and not we ourselves. I haven’t attained wisdom; I want to search for it as for hid treasure. I am not suggesting this is the only way to search for wisdom. In fact, one of the things I am learning is that wisdom is something we gain as we individually search for it. We can learn from each other, but the search must be our own.

• I had to realize I had a problem. In this case, I realized there was a problem after watching David and Bethel repeatedly say I’m sorry or Will you forgive me and immediately doing the same thing they were corrected for. It was clear that they were neither sorry nor repentant. They didn’t really understand the words they were saying.

• Pray about the problem. I didn’t start out praying in this case, but God helped me to remember before I had gotten too far. Next time I’d like to do this first.

• Brainstorm everything I know about the problem, including thinking about how the Bible defines it. If you look up alcoholism in the Bible, you might not find anything, but if you look up drunkenness, you will find more. Your search terms are crucial. In this case, I could have looked up friendship, or kindness, but I was looking more for the root problem.

• Find Bible passages that talk about the problem. I actually searched from Bible Gateway. Later I used the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. I looked in parenting books that I respect. Two books that are usually a help are Parenting with Scripture, and the three-page chart in Teach them Diligently. These books weren’t particularly helpful at this point. (Later the Priolo book was helpful. I just didn’t find it right away.) I looked for hymns in the hymnal, too, that might either give me ideas or be good to teach.

• Read and reread the Bible. The passages I found most helpful were Psalm 51 and II Corinthians 7:9-12. This was extremely helpful for me personally. I started to realize that God wasn’t just using me to teach my children, but that He was using my children’s needs to teach me. I probably should spend more time on this step even now, after I’ve come up with a plan.

• Write and discuss what I’m learning. Writing is helpful for me, although I realize it won’t be for others. Talking with my husband and other moms about what I’m learning also helps me start to figure out how to explain the concept clearly and succinctly. At this point I was looking for and thinking of concrete and direct explanations, or events in the Bible that illustrate the concept. (As helpful as metaphors are for school age and older, toddlers and preschoolers don’t always get them.)

• Put the plan into practice. This is the hardest step, but talking about my intentions on this blog is very helpful for me. I’ve been trying to talk about the verses I find at breakfast while the children are eating (they’re a captive audience) or in the car (for the same reason). After awhile I’ll bring up the verses when a situation arises that fits. It’s also nice when a situation arises that doesn’t involve my children (like siblings fighting at the grocery store, or friends who are also learning to be kind). The verse I decided was going to be most helpful for my children was Psalm 51:10. That’s the one we’ll start with.

• Continue in prayer. I’ll keep praying that God will help me to see the opportunities and give me the grace and wisdom to teach them what they need to know.

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