Week 1 | Day 5 | Teach Them the Way They Should Go

Command:

Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. Matthew 28:20 NIV

Read:

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 NIV

Reflect:

Mom’s life was far from perfect; she was far from perfect. Yet, she was unashamed to meet with God as she was. My mom started her day by getting up before the crack of dawn to go to morning mass. She rarely missed a day. If she did, it was because she was ill, or the car wouldn’t start. She often looked radiant and at peace when she returned from mass. As she got older and was no longer able to drive, she would quietly sneak into the living room while everyone was still asleep. She would read her Bible and pray, taking time to be with Jesus.

In my late teens, and through much of my adult life, I dismissed her acts of piety as ritualistic. But as I look back on it now, I realize that Mom was teaching me what loving Jesus could look like. The very thing that I dismissed in her is the very thing I long for - to be in Jesus’s presence and to know his ways. Again, she didn’t follow Jesus perfectly, and neither do I. But I hope to pass this faith on to my kids, just as my mom did for me. 

React:

Who has taught you about faith? With whom can you share your faith?

Pray:

Jesus, thank you for my mother’s faith, for it is through her that I have come to know and love you.