Directions Every Dawn

I ’ve learned a few things over my years. Things that don’t show up on any checklist, and certainly not in any operations manual.

We can teach our children. And, no matter what we do or say, we will teach them.

So, if you are new at parenting, I can tell you there is no end to advice. After the second or third book, oh, and let's just say "several" videos, I turned to my parents... who helped with things like changing diapers, feeding, and quieting a cryer.

Then, there are all the experts on children and general rearing techniques. I say this with a respectful sigh: They don't know you, nor your child, and my advice is... NEVER trust a stranger with your child.

Trust God alone. 

Read, and come to understand His Book, The Bible. You will learn the stories of parents and their children—who are actually God's children. Follow His instructions, and you will have done the best you could. You must never try parenthood without Him. We see sad evidence every day of adults who never knew God.

Parents must show children how to live, how to decide, how to act, what to say in many situations. If not you, they, or their friends, will invent their own ways. It may not be pretty.

You can and will repeat yourself (like God did)—sometimes more than you planned to, and sometimes more than they wanted to hear. And yes, they did hear you every time, even after they perfected the fine art of selective listening.

We can always model patience. (Good luck with that). We can demonstrate kindness, gentleness, unfailing love. (Again, do the best you can). It's OK. You're still learning too.

Then give a little wisdom when the moment opens the door just enough to let it in.

But after all is said and done, children, like parents, will live their own unique lives.They will make their own plans. They will follow roads you didn’t map out. They will choose paths that make you proud, and, at times, paths that make you pray a little harder—and maybe a little FASTER. Yes, just like you. And somewhere in that holy tension between guidance and release, a quiet truth settles in: your job, parent, was never to control their lives. 

It was/is to influence their direction.

Because in every step they take—whether steady or uncertain, your imprint goes with them. Not just what you taught, but how you taught it. The tone in your voice. The confidence, or lack of it. Remember to forgive yourself. We’re all still under construction... like metropolitan Atlanta highways. Lanes blocked everywhere with rubber cones, flashing lights, and ongoing frustration day and night.

Our children will mimic the way we handled pressure...or exploded. The way they saw us treat other people when no one else was watching. The way we loved them on their best days and especially on their worst. Will they remember the laughter? Please model that!

These are some of the things that stay with them all their lives.

Long after our lectures fade, long after the curfews are forgotten, long after they insist they've “figured it all out on their own”... and we quietly chuckle, because we know better, our lives become a compass they carry within them, though they may deny it vehemently.

And here’s the grace in it: God never asked us to produce perfect children.  

He asked us to faithfully point them.

“Point your children in the right direction. When they’re old they won’t be lost." Proverbs 22:6 MSG .Wise words from Solomon, inspired by God, and certainly practiced by his mom and dad.

So point. Guide. Pray. Being a Mom or Dad is the most important and challenging job you'll ever deeply love. Did I mention "Pray?"

And then, each day, from dawn, until dawn tomorrow, trust the One who loves them even more than you ever could.

Because in the end, our goal was never to keep them under our control, but to send them forward on their own with something of heaven stitched into their hearts.

 A parent's prayer—

Lord, help me to teach with patience, to lead with humility, and to love without condition.

Let my life speak louder than my words, may whatever I leave behind in them be shaped by Your Truth, and Your Grace. And when I'm tempted to worry about every step they take, remind me of this one truth:    

You are already there.   Amen.

Copyright 2025; Revised October 2026; Gary Landerfelt; mypericope.com

(MSG)