How Should
A Child Be Trained?
(Abridged)
PREFACE
In reprinting this little book on the much-needed subject of
“How should a child be trained?” one feels it is important to remember, first
of all, that nothing can be done aright unless the parent or parents are true
children of God. If an unsaved parent has picked up this booklet, our desire is
that you may accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
You may have a well-ordered house according to human
standards, but remember God says, “without faith it is impossible to please
Him” Hebrews 11:6. As you think of those dear children God has committed to
your care, with their precious immortal souls, it behooves you to make sure
that you yourself are right with God. It was for lost, helpless sinners like us
that the Lord Jesus died.
He alone can wash away your sins, and this He will do if you
come to Him now, pleading only your guilt, and the value of His precious blood
to cleanse you from every stain before a holy God. (1 John 1:7.) Then, having
become one of God’s children, you will be able – and indeed you will desire –
to bring up your children for the Lord and His glory.
Until truly saved, parents cannot set a proper motive before
their children. The thought of the natural man can never rise higher than
himself, and even in training their children, unconverted parents will set self
before them. They will teach their children to tell the truth because they do
not like lies. They will teach them to have good manners in order to make their
children likeable and popular. They will tell them that their friends will not
like them if they do certain things, and therefore they ought not to do them.
Indeed in all their training it will be a self-centered motive; it cannot be
otherwise.
Now even a Christian, if unwatchful, is likely to copy these
worldly ideas. Such motives appeal to our natural hearts, as well as to our
children’s; but they are not of God. Brining up our children “in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4), is the very opposite of this. We
should teach them to tell the truth because they are responsible to the Lord,
and He hates lying. We should teach them to be courteous because the Lord says,
“be courteous” (1 Peter 3:8), and they ought to seek to please Him. We should
teach them to seek to always do what is right, not to be well thought of, (for
they may be despised for it sometimes) but just to please the Lord. This is the
very opposite of man’s viewpoint, but it is the only right way, if we would
seek to train our children according to God.
One feels he should remark here that our confidence in
training our children, as in everything about which we can have confidence,
must be in the Lord, not in ourselves or our methods. “Not that we are
sufficient of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.” 2 Corinthians 3:5. No
parent could ever say that he had trained up his children in every was as he
should. God makes us conscious of our weakness and failure, so that we may turn
to Him and own that we owe all to His grace. May the Lord give grace to each
and all of the dear parents who reach this booklet, that they may seek from Him
the needed grace, wisdom and strength, which He alone can supply day by day, to
bring up a family for Him in these last days.
HOW SHOULD
A CHILD BE TRAINED?
“Bring
them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Eph. 6:4
How little is this text regarded! We live in days when there
is a mighty zeal for education, new schools rising on all sides, new systems
and new books for training the young, of every description. These things may
well give rise to great searching’s of heart. The subject is one that should
come home to every conscience; there is hardly a household that it does not
touch.
This is pre-eminently a subject in which we can see the
faults of our neighbors more clearly than our own. We need to suspect our own
judgment. I have sometimes been perfectly astonished at the slowness of
sensible Christian parents to allow that their children are in the fault or
deserve blame.
Come now, and let us have before us a few hints, words in
season. Reject them not because they are blunt and simple.
First, if
we would train our children wisely we must train them according to the Word of
God.
Remember, children are born with a decided bias toward evil.
Therefore, if we let them choose for themselves, they are certain to choose
wrong.
The mother cannot tell what her tender infant may grow up to
be, tall or short, weak or strong, wise or foolish; he may be any of these
things, or not – it is all uncertain. But one thing the mother can say with
certainty; he will have a corrupt and sinful heart. It is natural to us to do
wrong. “Foolishness,” God says, “is bound in the heart of a child” Proverbs
22:15. “A child left to himself brings his mother to shame” Proverbs 29:15.
If then, we would deal wisely with our child, we must not
leave him to the guidance of his own will. We must think for him, judge for
him, just as we would for one weak and blind; but we should not give him up to
his own wayward tastes and inclinations. It must not be his likings and wishes
that are consulted. He knows not yet what is good for his mind and soul,
anymore than what is good for his body. Do not let him decide what he shall
eat, and what he shall drink and how he shall be clothed. What shameful scenes
at the table might be avoided if parents would seek divine wisdom as to what is
best to put on the child’s plate.
If we do not consent to this first divine principle of
training, it is useless to read any further. Self-will is almost the first
thing that appears in the child’s mind; and it must be our first step to resist
it. The best horse in the world has to be broken.
Train up
your child with all tenderness, affection and patience.
I do not mean that you should spoil him, but I do mean that
you should let him see that you love him. Kindness, gentleness, long-suffering,
forbearance, patience, sympathy, a willingness to enter into childish troubles,
a readiness to take part in childish joys – these are the cords by which a
child may be led most easily; these are the clues you must follow if you would
find the way to his heart.
Sternness and severity of manner chill them and throw them
back. It shuts up their hearts, and you will weary yourself to find the door.
But let them see that you have an affectionate feeling toward them; that you
are really desirous to make them happy and to do them good; that if you punish
them it is intended for their profit.
Children are weak and tender creatures, and as such they
need patient and considerate treatment. We must handle them delicately, like
sensitive plants, lest by rough fingering we do them more harm than good.
We must not expect all things at once. We must remember what
they are and teach them what they are able to bear. Their understandings are
like narrow-necked vessels; we must pour in the wine of knowledge gradually, or
much of it will be spilled and lost. Line upon line, and precept upon precept,
here a little and there a little, must be our rule. Truly there is need of
patience in training a child, but without it nothing can be done.
Nothing will compensate for the absence of tenderness and
love. You may set before your children their duty; command, threaten, punish,
reason: but if affection be wanting in your treatment, your labor will be in
vain. Love is the one grand secret of successful training. Anger and harshness
may frighten, but will not persuade the child that you are right; and if he
sees you often out of temper, you will soon cease to have his respect. Fear
puts an end to openness of manner; fear leads to concealment; fear sows the
seed of hypocrisy, and leads to many a lie. There is a mine of truth in the
apostle’s words to the Colossians, “Fathers, provoke not your children to
anger, lest they be discouraged.” Col. 3:21.
Train your
children diligently remembering the importance of right training.
Early habits (if I may so speak) are most important under
God. We are made what we are by training. Our character takes the form of that
mold into which our first years are cast, not forgetting, of course, what the
grace of God can do for those who look to Him.
God gives our children a mind that will receive impressions
like moist clay, and to trust our word rather than a stranger’s. He gives us in
short, a golden opportunity of doing them good. See that the opportunity is not
neglected and thrown away.
I know that you cannot convert your child. I know well that
they who are born again are born, not of the will of man, but of God. But I
also know that God says expressly, “Bring them up in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord,” and He never laid a command on man which He would not give man
grace to perform. The path of obedience is the way of blessing. We have only to
do as the servants were commanded at the marriage feast in Cana, to fill the
water pots with water, and we may safely leave it to the Lord to turn that
water into wine.
Ever bear in mind that the soul of your child is the first
thing to be considered.
Precious,
no doubt are these little ones in our eyes; but if we love them we will think
often of their souls. No interest will weight with us so much as their eternal
welfare. No part of them should be so dear to us as that part which will never
die. The world, with all its glory shall pass away; but the spirit which dwells
in those little creatures, whom we love so well, shall outlive them all, and
whether in happiness or misery (to speak as a man) will depend on us. This is
the thought that should be uppermost in our minds, in all we do for our
children. How will this affect their souls?
To pet, pamper, and indulge our child, as if this world was
all he had to look to, and this life the only season for happiness – to do this
is not true love, but cruelty. Nor is it fidelity to Christ.
A faithful Christian must be no slave to fashion, if he
would train his child for the Lord. He must not be content to do things merely
because they are the custom of the world, and especially the religious world
with its popular but unwarranted traditions, such as “Christmas” and “Easter.”
(Gal. 4:10, Romans 12:2). Nor is it protecting them by allowing them to read
the vain “comics” and books of a questionable sort, merely because everybody
reads them. What can bring the world into the home more than television? He
must not be ashamed to hear his training called singular and strange. What if
it is? The time is short – the fashion of this world passeth away. He that has
trained his children for heaven rather than for earth – for God rather than man
– he is that parent that will be called wise at the last. “He that doeth the
will of God abideth forever” 1 John 2:17.
Train your
child in the knowledge of the Bible.
We cannot make our children love the Bible, I allow. None
but the Holy Ghost can give them a heart to delight in the Word. But we can
make our children acquainted with the Bible; and be sure they cannot be
acquainted with that blessed Book too soon or too well. Let the simple Bible be
everything in the training of their souls; and let all other books take second
place.
See that your children read the Bible reverently; it is in
truth the Word of God. See that they read it regularly.
Tell them of sin, its guilt, its consequences, its power,
it’s vileness – we will find they can comprehend something of this. Tell them
of the Lord Jesus Christ, His love, and His work for our salvation – His cross,
His shed blood, His resurrection, ascension and soon coming again. You will
find there is something not beyond them in all this.
Train them
to a habit of prayer.
Parents, if you love your children, do all that lies in your
power to train them up to a habit of prayer. Show them how to begin. Tell them
what to say. Encourage them to persevere. Remind them if they become careless
and slack about it. As the first steps in any undertaking are always the most
important, so is the manner in which our children’s prayers are prayed, a point
which deserves our closest attention. Few seem to know how much depends on
this. We must beware lest they get into a way of saying them in a hasty, careless,
and irreverent manner. Reader, if you love your children, I charge you, do not
let the seedtime of a prayerful habit pass away.
Train them
to assemble in a scriptural way with the people of God.
Tell them where the Lord’s people are gathered together in
His name, there the Lord Jesus is present in an especial manner, and that those
who absent themselves must expect, like the apostle Thomas, to miss a blessing.
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is”
Hebrews 10:25.
Do not allow them to grow up with a habit of deciding
whether or not they want to go to the meetings.
Neither do I like to see what I call a “young people’s
corner” in an assembly. They often catch habits of inattention and irreverence
there which it takes years to unlearn, if ever they are unlearned at all. What
I like to see is a whole family sitting together. “We will go with our young
and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters; for we must hold a
feast unto the Lord” Exodus 10:9.
Nor should we lightly esteem the Lord’s Day by turning it
into a day of recreation and self-gratification.
Train them
to obey you without always knowing why.
We should teach them to accept everything we require of them
as for their good.
I have heard it said by some, that we should require nothing
of children which they cannot understand; that we should explain and give a
reason for everything we desire them to do. I warn you solemnly against such a
notion. I tell you plainly, I think it is an unsound and unscriptural
principle. No doubt it is absurd to make a mystery of everything we do, and
there are many things which it is well to explain to children, in order that
they may see that they are reasonable and wise. But to bring them up with the
idea that they must take nothing on trust – that they with their weak and
imperfect understandings, must have the “why” and “wherefore” made clear to
them at every step they take – this is indeed a fearful mistake, and likely to
have the worst effect on their minds.
Set before them the example of Isaac, in the day when
Abraham took him to offer him on Mount Moriah, Genesis 22. He asked his father
that single question, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And he got no
answer but this, “The Lord will provide Himself a lamb.” How, or where, or
whence, or in what manner, or by what means – all this Isaac was not told; but
the answer was enough. He believed that it would be well, because his father
said so, and he was content.
Train them
to a habit of prompt obedience.
This is an object which it is worth any labor to attain. No
habit I suspect has such an influence over our lives as this. Parents,
determine to make your children obey you, though it may cost you much trouble
and cost them many tears. Let there be no questioning, and reasoning, and
disputing, and delaying, and answering again. When you give them a command, let
them see plainly that you will have it done. It is the mark of well-trained
children that they do whatsoever their parents command them. Where indeed is
the honor which Ephesians 6:1 enjoins, if fathers and mothers are not obeyed,
cheerfully, willingly, and at once? (Eph. 6:1-4; Col. 3:20.)
Early obedience has all Scripture on its side. It is said in
Abraham’s praise not merely he will train his family, but “he will command his
children and his household after him.” Gen. 18:19. It is said of the Lord Jesus
Himself, that when He was young He was subject to Mary and Joseph (Luke 2:51).
Mark how the Apostle Paul names disobedience to parents as one of the bad signs
of the last days. (2 Tim. 3:2.)
Parents, do you wish to see your children happy? Take care,
then that you train them to obey when they are spoken to – to do as they are
bid. Believe me, we are not made for entire independence; we are not fit for
it. Even Christ’s freemen have a yoke to wear – they “serve the Lord Christ.”
Col. 3:24. Children cannot learn too soon that this is a world in which we are
not intended to rule, and that we are never in our right place until we know
how to obey. Teach them to obey while young, or else they will be fretting
against God all their lives long, and wear themselves out with the vain idea of
being independent of His control.
You will see many in this day who allow their children to
choose and think for themselves long before they are able, and even make
excuses for their disobedience, as if it were a thing not to be blamed. To my
eyes a parent always yielding, and a child always having its own way, is a most
painful sight; painful because I see God’s appointed order of things inverted
and turned upside down; painful, because I feel sure the consequence to that
child’s character in the end will be self-will and self-conceit.
Train them
to always speak the truth, and the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
God is spoken of as the God of truth. Less than the truth is
a lie; that evasion, excuse-making, and exaggeration are all half-way houses
toward what is false, and ought to be avoided. Encourage them in any
circumstance to be straightforward, and whatever it may cost them, to speak the
truth.
I urge it also for our own comfort and assistance in all our
dealings with them. We will find it a mighty help, indeed, to be always able to
trust their word. It will go far to prevent that habit of concealment which so
unhappily prevails among children.
Train them
to a habit of always redeeming the time.
Idleness is the devil’s best friend. It is the surest way to
give him an opportunity of doing harm. An idle mind is like an open door, and
if Satan does not enter in himself by it, it is certain he will throw in
something to raise bad thoughts in our souls. We must have our hands filled and
our minds occupied with something, or else our imaginations will soon ferment
and breed mischief. “This was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom; pride, fullness
of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her” Ezek. 16:49. Verily, I believe
that idleness has led to more sin than almost any other habit that could be
named. I love to see them active and industrious, and giving their whole heart
to all they do.
Train them
with a constant fear of overindulgence.
I know well that punishment and correction are disagreeable
things. Nothing is more unpleasant than giving pain to those we love, and
calling forth their tears. But so long as hearts are what they are, it is vain
to suppose, as a general rule, that children can be brought up without
correction. Spoiling is a very expressive word, and sadly full of meaning. Now
it is the shortest way to spoil children to let them have their own way – to
allow them to do wrong, and not to punish them for it. Believe me you must not
do it, whatever pain it may cost you, unless you wish to ruin your children’s
souls.
“He that spareth his rod, hateth his son; but he that loveth
him chasteneth him betimes” Proverbs 13:24. “Chasten thy son while there is
hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying” Proverbs 19:18. “Foolishness
is bound in the heart of a child: but the rod of correction shall drive it far
from him” Proverbs 22:15. “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou
beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod,
and deliver his soul from hell” Proverbs 23:13, 14. “The rod and reproof give
wisdom; but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” “Correct thy
son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul”
Proverbs 29:15,17.
How strong and forcible are these texts! How melancholy is
the fact, that in many Christian families they seem almost unknown! Their
children need reproof, but it is hardly ever given; they need correction, but
it is hardly ever employed. And yet this book of Proverbs is not obsolete and
unfit for Christians. It is given by inspiration of God, and profitable. Surely
the believer who brings up his children without attention to its counsel, is
making himself wise above that which is written, and greatly errs.
Fathers and mothers, I tell you plainly, if you never punish
your children when they are in fault, you are doing them a grievous wrong. I warn
you, this is the rock on which the saints of God, in every age, have only too
frequently made shipwreck. I would fain persuade you to be wise in time, and
keep clear of it. See it in Eli’s case. His sons Hophni and Phinehas made
themselves vile, and he restrained them not. He gave them no more than a tame
and lukewarm reproof, when he ought to have rebuked them sharply. In one word
he honored his sons above God. And what was the end of these things? He lived
to hear of the death of both of his sons in battle and his own gray hairs were
brought down with sorrow to the grave. (1 Samuel 2:12-34; 3:10-18.)
See, too, the case of David. Who can read without pain, the
history of his children and their sins? Amnon’s incest, Absalom’s murder and
proud rebellion, Adonijah’s scheming ambition. In the account of Adonijah, in 1
Kings 1:6, “His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast
thou done so?” There was the foundation of all the mischief. David was an
overindulgent father – a father who let his children have their own way; and he
reaped according as he had sown.
Parents, I beseech you, for your children’s sakes, beware of
overindulgence. I call on you to remember, it is your first duty to consult
their real interest, and not their fancies and likings; to train them, not to
humor them; to profit, not merely to please.
You must not give
way to every wish and caprice of your child’s mind, however much you may love
him; you must not let him suppose his will is to be everything, and that he has
only to desire a thing and it will be done. Do not, I pray, make your children
idols, left God should take them away, and break your idols, just to convince
you of your folly. Learn to say “No” to your children. Show them that you are
able to refuse whatever you think is not fit for them. Un-required school
activities and entertainments require firmness lest your children become swept
into the current of Satan’s allurements.
Show them that you are ready to punish disobedience, and
that when you speak of punishment you are not only ready to threaten, but also
to perform. “Forbearing threatening.” Fewer punishments but really and in good
earnest are better than frequent and slight punishments, but do not allow
disobedience to pass unpunished. When disciplining your children becomes
needful, it is imperative that the parents stand together in loving
cooperation.
Beware of letting small faults pass unnoticed, under the
idea “it is a little one.” There are no little things in training children; all
are important. Little weeds need plucking up as much as any. Leave them alone
and they will soon be great. Reader, if you do not trouble with your children
when they are young, they will give you trouble when they are old.
Train
them, remembering continually how God trains His children.
If you would train your children wisely, mark well how God
the Father trains His. He doeth all things well; the plan which He adopts must
be right. God’s children would tell you, in the long run it was a blessed thing
they did not have their way, and that God had done better for them than they
could have done for themselves. Yes, and they could tell you too, that God’s
dealings had provided more happiness for them than they ever would have
obtained themselves.
I ask you to lay to heart the lesson which God’s dealings
with His people are meant to teach you. Fear not to withhold from your child
anything you think will do him harm, whatever his own wishes may be. This is
God’s plan. To be indulged perpetually is the way to be made selfish; and
selfish people and spoiled children are seldom happy. Reader, be not wiser than
God; train your children as He trains His.
Train
them, remembering continually the influence of your own example.
There is no substitute for godliness – reality with God in
the lives of the parents. Instruction, advice and commands will profit little
unless they are backed up by the pattern of your life. Your children will never
believe you are in earnest, and really wish them to obey you, so long as your
actions contradict your counsel. We little know the force and power of example.
Children see our ways, they mark our conduct, they observe our behavior. Never,
I believe, does example tell so powerfully as it does in the case of parents
and children. Fathers and mothers do not forget that children learn more by the
eye than they do by the ear. What they see has a much stronger effect on their
minds than what they are told.
Strive rather to be a living epistle of Christ, such as your
children can read, and that plainly. Be an example in words, in temper, in
diligence, in temperance, in faith, in kindness, in humility. Think not your
children will practice what they do not see you do. You are their model
picture, and they will copy what you are. Your reasoning and your lecturing,
your wise commands, and your good advise – all this they may not understand but
they can understand your life. As you enjoy Christ for yourself they will
believe it is something real. Children are very quick observers, very quick in
seeing through hypocrisy, very quick in finding out what you really think and
feel, very quick in adopting all your ways and opinions; and you will generally
find, as the father so in the son.
Train
them, remembering continually the power of sin.
This will guard you against unscriptural expectations. It is
painful to see how much corruption and evil there is in a young child’s heart,
and how soon it begins to bear fruit. Violent tempers, self-will, pride,
sullenness, passion, idleness, selfishness, deceit, cunning, falsehood,
hypocrisy, a terrible aptness to learn what is bad, a painful slowness to learn
what is good, a readiness to pretend anything in order to gain their own ends.
You must not think it strange and unusual that little hearts can be so full of
sin. It is the only portion which our father Adam left us; it is that fallen
nature with which we come into the world.
Never listen to those who tell you your children are good,
and well brought up, and can be trusted. At their very best they want only a
spark to set their corruptions alight. Parents are seldom too cautious.
Remember the natural depravity of your children and take care.
“Cast thy bread upon the waters,” saith the Spirit, “for
thou shalt find it after many days.” Eccl. 11:1. Many children, I doubt not,
shall rise up in the day of judgment and bless their parents for good training,
who never gave any signs of having profited by it during their parent’s lives.
Go forward then in faith, and be sure your labor shall not be altogether thrown
away. Three times did Elijah stretch himself upon the widow’s child before it
revived. Take example from him and persevere.
Train with
continual prayer for blessing on all you do.
Look upon your children as Jacob did his; he tells Esau,
they are “the children which God hath graciously given thy servant.” Gen. 33:5.
Look upon them as Joseph did on his; he told his father, “they are my sons whom
God hath given me.” Gen. 48:9. Count them with the Psalmist to be “a heritage
of the Lord” Psalms 127:3. See how Manoah speaks to the angel about Samson;
“How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?” Judges 13:12.
Observe how tenderly Job cared for his children’s souls; “He offered burnt
offerings according to the number of them all,” for he said, “It may be my sons
have sinned and cursed God in their heart, thus did Job continually.” Job 1:5.
Parents, if you love your children, go and do likewise. You
cannot name their names before the mercy seat too often.
Fathers and mothers, you may send your children to the best
of schools and give them Bibles and fill them with head knowledge; but if all
this time there in no regular training at home, I tell you plainly, I fear it
will go hard in the end with your children’s souls.
Children have mixed the bitterest cups that man has ever had
to drink. Children have caused the saddest tears that man has ever had to shed.
Adam could tell you so; David could tell you so. There are no sorrows on earth
like those children have brought upon their parents.
Oh, take heed lest your own neglect should lay up misery for
you in your old age.
“Pour out thine heart like water before the face of the
Lord; lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children” Lam.
2:19.
We cannot close this little paper without a word of warning
against two innovations of recent years – radio and television – which the
devil is using to bring the world with all its degrading influences into the
home. TV with its corrupt programs is surely his latest masterpiece, and
Christian parents are warned to be on their guard.
“They shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the
house of their fathers, a lamb for a house…It is the Lord’s Passover…The blood
shall be to you for a taken upon the houses where ye are: And when I see the
blood, I will pass over you” Exodus 12:3, 11, 13.
Beneath
the blood-stained lintel
I with my
children stand;
A
messenger of judgment
Is passing
through the land;
There is
no other refuge
From the
destroyer’s face –
Beneath
the bloodstained lintel
Shall be
our hiding-place.
The Lamb
of God has suffered;
Our sins
and grief’s He bore:
By faith
the blood is sprinkled
Above our
dwelling’s door.
The Lord,
who judges righteously,
Have given
that sacred sign:
Tonight
the bloodstained lintel
Shall
shelter me and mine.
My Savior,
for my dear ones,
I claim
Thy promise true:
The Lamb
is “for the household” –
The
children’s Savior too.
On earth
the little children
Once felt
Thy touch divine;
Beneath
the bloodstained lintel
Thy
blessing give to mine.
O Thou who
gave them, guard them –
Those
wayward little feet,
The
wilderness before them,
The ills
of life to meet.
My mother
love is helpless,
I trust
them to Thy care!
Beneath
the bloodstained lintel –
My place
is ever there.
The faith
I rest upon Thee,
Thou wilt
not disappoint;
With
wisdom, Lord, to train them,
My
shrinking heart anoint.
With all
my children, Father,
I then
shall see Thy face –
Under the
bloodstained lintel –
The token
of Thy grace.
Mothers,
be patient.
I know full
well that you have much to bear;
But speak
not harshly to the little ones
Who bring
thee care.
A little
child,
A fragile,
tender plant that hold your heart
With love
so strong, which you will only gage
If you
should part.
Noisy?
‘Tis health;
And yet it
needs but just a sudden chill.
A few sad
hours upon the rack,
And all is
still.
So still!
So still!
The
darling face is white, your eyes are wet,
Although
the echo of the pattering feet
Is with
you yet.
What would
you give
To see
those eyes with laughter lit once more!
To hear
those feet go bounding overhead
And shake
the floor!
Then think
in time;
Prize well
the worth of child life with you now,
And never
meet the merry shouts of glee
With
fretful brow.
And, more
than all,
With song
and joy to cheer, to you is given
(Then let
the joy be wise, of Christ the song,)
And lead
to heaven.
Great is
your trust;
Oh, let
the reaping of the after years
Be of the
sowing of your patient love
And many
prayers.
Look up
for strength;
The God
who placed that child within your care
And guide
it there.
j c ryle