NEVER LOSE FAITH IN YOUR CHILD!--By Dr. Paul A. Kienel
When our Lord selected His twelve disciples, He did not choose candidates whose academic records showed them to be in the top 10% of their class. He used the meekest of men, most of whom were totally uneducated to perpetuate His Gospel to all future generations.
Even at less lofty levels than the Lord's disciples, there have been men who were honoured in the adult years as great leaders, but as children in school they were perpetual candidates for "the least likely to succeed" group.
Perhaps a classic example is the well-known story of a boy named Albert. Albert was so slow to learn to talk that his parents thought he was abnormal. His teachers called him a misfit & his classmates avoided him. He failed his first college entrance examination. To the amazement of everyone, he turned out to be one of the greatest scientists in the World. His name was Albert Einstein.
Winston Churchill was less than a bright boy in school. As a matter of fact, he was their lowest achiever in his class all the way through his early years of education. He stuttered so badly that his parents & teachers could barely understand him. In later years as Prime Minister of Great Britain, he became known as one of the most eloquent statesmen in history. In 1953 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
If your youngster is struggling in school, don't lose faith in him. There is hope! Of course, success in later life is not guaranteed to the youngster who struggles in school even as success is not assured the student who is a "straight `A' genius". It is interesting to observe how many times children who trudge a continual uphill road in school develop a quality of determination in their character that makes them valuable citizens in their later years. If your youngster is less than an "academic whiz", perhaps you will take comfort in the following survey of 343 graduates of Columbia University. According to the findings, "Those who had graduated from Columbia University with honours, who had won scholastic medals, who had been elected to Phi Beta Kappa, were more likely to be in the lower professional levels than in the top levels."
I suppose the best interpretation of such findings is that students who always succeed in school never learn the valuable lessons reserved only for strugglers & uphill climbers. Those who whiz through school very often have some basic qualities of determination missing from their fibers & are afraid to attempt anything where the risk of failure is a possibility. This is not to say that you have to be mentally dull & have a difficult time in school to succeed in life. Brilliance is not a liability. But in the Lord's economy of people, He has graciously balanced the scales & our worth to the Kingdom is not determined just by our academic prowess. God can use dim bulbs as well as bright bulbs! He can take our liabilities & turn them into assets & our lives will bring honour to His Name so long as we are willing to submit ourselves to His direction.
Our number one responsibility as parents is to guide our children to a total commitment to Jesus Christ & to trust Him completely for life's direction. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart: & lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, & He shall direct thy paths."
Whatever the natural liabilities & handicaps your child may have in school, his potential worth to the World is greatly enhanced if he loves God & has strong love ties at home. Your child can weather every storm if he knows that Christ loves him & his parents love him. It is imperative to the mental & emotional well-being of your child that love be expressed to him by his parents on a regular basis & in a variety of ways.
I am sure observers of the Kienel household would characterise our family as an affectionate family. My wife & I kiss our three daughters at least once every day & express words of parental affection to them. My wife & I also kiss each other in full view of our children. In addition to the fact that the common cold spreads rapidly in our household, there is a lot of genuine family love in our home. In my view, next to your love for Christ should be our constant love for our families. The family is the basic unit of society & its cohesiveness is based on love.
Your child's ability to surmount the everyday pressures of school, church & neighbourhood are enhanced many times over if he has the security of God's Love in his heart & the security of knowing that he has a home where he is understood & loved. As valuable as Christian school education is, it is secondary to a Christian home where Christ-honouring love flows freely.
Never lose faith in your child. There is hope for him. There is hope especially if the love of Christ is pre-eminent in your child's home, church & school, & most especially in you!
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A TRIBUTE TO ALL DAUGHTERS
Every home should have a daughter,
For there's nothing like a girl
To keep the World around her
In one continuous whirl...
From the moment she arrives on Earth,
And on through womanhood,
A daughter is a female
Who is seldom understood...
One minute she is laughing,
The next she starts to cry,
Man just can't understand her
And there's just no use to try...
She is soft & cuddly,
But she's also wise & smart,
She's a wondrous combination
Of a mind & brain & heart...
And even in her baby days
She's just a born coquette.
And anything she really wants
She manages to get...
For even at a tender age
She uses all her wiles
And she can melt the hardest heart
With the sunshine of her smiles...
She starts out as a rosebud
With her beauty unrevealed,
Then through a happy childhood
Her petals are unsealed...
She's soon a sweet girl graduate,
And then a blushing bride,
And then a lovely woman
As the rosebud opens wide...
And some day in the future,
If it be God's gracious will,
She, too, will be a Mother
And know that reverent thrill
That comes to every Mother
Whose heart is filled with love
When she beholds the "angel"
That God sent her from above...
And there would be no life at all
In this World or the other
Without a darling daughter
Who, in turn, becomes a Mother!
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