Danny has been reading to me from Deuteronomy in the evenings, and what a blessing it has been! Then this morning, when the school-aged grandchildren were here for “Monday School” (Grandmother and older granddaughters do Latin, Spanish, FL History, Art, Music with them), he shared from Deut. 32 with them for our usual devotions. Such a refreshing blessing is God’s Word – especially when shared by our family patriarch!
Deut. 32:2 “My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:”
Danny had the children look out the door and observe the dew on the grass – how gently it forms and distills. He shared with them about the best rain for the grapefruit grove being the gentle, steady, soft, or “small”, as the verse describes it. It comes almost “line upon line, precept upon precept”, rather than beating down like a hurricane.
When doctrine comes into the good soil of our hearts like the sweet dew and small rain, it makes a lasting impact, it becomes a part of our very being. Oh, yes, there is a time for the driving force of the rain and storm – we experienced 3 hurricanes in the 2004 season. It was a rare thing for our area in Florida, since we are 40 – 50 miles from either coast. Charlie, the first and most powerful, did the most “damage” to our area. But Charlie did a lot of pruning and uprooting of dead and unproductive trees. Sometimes, the storm is needed as a serious cleansing time.
But most of life, physical and spiritual, is ordinary, and the growing and nourishing time is gentle and continual. What a blessing to be nourished by the Lord on His good Word! And how it makes us cognizant of the need for us as parents to be about the business of sprinkling good doctrine into the lives of our children in a steady, regular, gentle way – line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. This business of raising godly seed is a commitment, not to be completed in a quick sprint. It is a process that requires our presence and our heart attention.
Thank you, Lord, for your “clearly seen” Word and for its good fruit in the lives of your precious children!
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7 comments:
I read this wonderful post at a time when Eddie and I have been so burdened to really tighten up the schedule and make all the little minutes count!
While the family devotions (reading a chapter together) have been consistent, thank the Lord, other priorities like scripture memorization, the catechism, and reading literature aloud as a family all tend to be crowded out when we are not proactive. Here a little and there a little - whatever the content of those little bites of time - they do add up!!!
"Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines [have] tender grapes."
Thank you for reminding us to remember our priorities!!!
Love,
Beth
Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Frodge for the reminder. It is so true. It is wonderful to see our children take what they have learned and start to apply it to life situations. What a joy and a blessing to be parents!
Have a great day.
Cristal
Thank you so much, Mother, for that great encouragement. That is such a reminder that it doesn't happen all at once in one big sweep. It is the day to day little things that make the person who he or she will be. I love that verse, that is a beautiful Scripture. Thank you so much for shating.
Love,
Molly
sharing -- sorry! Typing with one hand with William squirming around!
I saw a comment that you posted on Stacy McDonald's blog, and since you said you were from Florida, I wanted to pop by and visit. Although we now live in Idaho, we are from Florida---Orlando area. My husband, in fact, is a Florida native and his parents still live on the Spacecoast. We miss LOTS of things about Central Florida (not the humidity), most especially the best in-laws anyone could ever have!!
What a joy that you live so close to your daughters and their families. It is a blessing to be near family, isn't it?
I wanted to thank you for stopping by my blog and for your kind words about the infertility struggle I face. You are the first visitor to my blog, as I have not really given the address out much and, in fact, am not even sure I will be keeping it.
As you mentioned where you live and the rural, countryness of it, I could almost envision traveling I-4 towards Tampa and getting off at the Auburndale exit, or taking Highway 27 and stopping at any number of those small towns. Having lived in that area for so long, I do know for sure that there really ARE some rural areas of Florida. It's not all beach and Disney World!! As I said, there is much we miss about living there, especially my wonderful mother-in-law and father-in-law. And we have recently found out that, due to health issues, my MIL will not be able to fly out here to see us anymore. That makes the distance between Idaho and Florida seem even greater.
Again, thanks for being the first visitor to my blog and for your prayers about more children. (Due to our experience and our longing for more children, we are passionate about encouraging people to not make the mistake of sterlizing themselves----so many regret it when they reach their 50's, and we know firsthand the pain, so we try to encourage people to not do anything permanent. I will be blogging about that very aspect---if I decide to keep the blog that is. But blogging can be addictive and it often keeps me from doing other things I should be doing. Not to mention, maybe there is really no one who is interested in a blog about the preciousness of children and the pain of infertility.)
Blessings,
Patti
What a beautiful post! It re-enforces the old-fashioned, plodding, repetitive way to do something well truly works. Our fast food culture of today wants quick, overnight success, even with our children's character. Thank you for such a gentle reminder that it is the day-to-day Godly living that truly molds hearts and lives.
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