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A Parent's Influence

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."¹

You may have read the following poem, but it is well worth reading again:

   I took a piece of plastic clay
   And idly fashioned it one day;
   And as my fingers pressed it still,
   It moved and yielded as my will.

   I came again when days were past,
   The form I gave it still it bore,
   And as my fingers pressed it still,
   I could change that form no more.

   I took a piece of living clay,
   And gently formed it day by day,
   And molded with my power and art
   A young child's soft and yielding heart.

   I came again when days were gone;
   It was a man I looked upon,
   He still that early impress bore,
   And I could change it never more.²

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me to be as Christ to my children (and/or to any children that I may have the opportunity to influence) so that they, seeing Jesus in me, will want him in their life as well. Help me to model your love and loving ways so that my life will impact, not only my children so that they will grow up in the ways of God, but in some way every life I touch. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Proverbs 22:6 (KJV).
2. Author Unknown.

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