The way they are bent…..

Posted September 23rd, 2010 by CyleAugusta with No Comments

The boys don’t usually care what they wear. The operative word here is usually. You see they were dressed alike this past Sunday. Matching, they may have been, but rest assured we didn’t get out of the house without the expression of individual styles.

Tucker insisted that his yellow rain boots were a great addition to his clothing. He even showed me that his shirt had a yellow stripe. Could I argue?

Kenimer found a vintage hat I had bought the day before for his dad and decided to wear it to Church.

They were very insistent on their choices… I felt some conflict coming on. I quickly checked my motives and realized that my main reason for convincing them to ditch the boots and hat was based solely on what others would think of me. Maybe my boys would look a little less… whatever – dignified? together? than the others.

I had a moment of truth in which I remembered some insight a dear friend had shared with me recently. We were discussing the verse in Proverbs that states train a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it. Some Hebrew scholars actually read it “train a child in the way he is bent” or “naturally goes…” in other words train them and direct them in the path God has designed for them. Not the way we think they should go. Ouch. I have begun praying that God would reveal to me the natural giftings in my children and begin to see how to develop and encourage them in those things. The number one prayer I have is that i won’t be swayed by what other kids are doing and I will seek the Lord’s plan for my children.

While we are on the subject of letting our kids express their style, I found this pic and had to share. I asked Kenimer, “Where did you learn to model?” His response “you taught me when I was three“. Hmm – this memory escapes me.

The boys started school a few weeks ago. Kenimer in Pre-k and Tucker in two-day-a-week playschool. Kenimer has been enjoying having his brother come to school with him two days. Kenimer is very concerned with filling up his chart during the week. The nightly conversations often revolve around praying for him to complete his chart for good behavior. Shannon and I have been SOOOO blessed by the sweet teachers they each have. They have taken time to speak with us about specific things they see in our children.

In conlusion I am constantly getting over “what people think”, even in child-rearing.
Let us go forth in freedom to be who we were created to be! Amen!

{Love-Cyle Augusta}

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Written by CyleAugusta