Sow Good Seeds

When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments and live. Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honour you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.” Proverbs 4:3-9 (ESV)

We always attribute wisdom to Solomon, after all, he was the second wisest man that ever lived, second to Jesus Christ. But after reading these verses above, I clearly understand that Solomon’s quest for wisdom might have been nonexistent if his parents hadn’t sown the right seeds in him.

In these verses, Solomon gives us a sneak peek into his early years as a young boy living with his father, King David, and his mother, Bathsheba. He shares with us the words his father spoke to him, words that became the very foundation of his quest for wisdom.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

What do we teach our children?

Solomon’s words suggest that there was a deliberate attempt by his father to instil these lessons in him. His father must have set out time in the midst of his busy life as king and father to many others, to teach Solomon, face to face, without any distractions.

Most of the words that I remember my dad speaking to me were those he said while I was alone with him in one of his midnight instructive sessions. I remember how he would wake whichever child had misbehaved during the day at midnight just to have a one-on-one ‘chat’. We walked away from those conversations wiser than we came, and we never forgot what was said.

“Tosin, you can’t please everyone. When you are this to this person and that to that person only to please them, you’ll end up forgetting who you really are.” ~ my dad.

Most of the Chapters and a number of verses in the book of Proverbs start with the phrase “My son”. Solomon also realised the importance of teaching his children the things that he had learned and pointed them towards the path of life. The fallen world is eager to lead children down the path of destruction with the things they have chosen to expose their minds to. In the post They are coming for our children, we see the need to protect their hearts and their minds by teaching them the truth of God’s word from an early age so that they can be able to differentiate truth from the lies of the devil masked as truth by this world.  There certainly are children who have been taught right but end up on the wrong side, and it is safe to say that not all lessons will be adhered to; Solomon’s son is a good example. But we cannot live it to chance. As parents and wards alike, we must do our part to sow the right seeds and trust God to cause them to grow into trees of life.

What seeds are you sowing in the lives of those around you?

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In memory of my dad. 

Even at a party, he was studying his bible whilst carrying my little cousin 😁

You showed us. You taught us. You lived by example. It was your birthday yesterday, you would have been 67. It’s been 17 years since you’ve been gone, but the lessons of your life will keep leading us to the light.

I love you.

 

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I also choose to celebrate you, Sue Love. You have become to me more than I expected when I was first led down the path that crossed yours. In your own way, you have allowed the Lord use you to sow seeds in my heart that lead me closer to Him, and for this, I am very grateful. Happy 70th birthday to you, today.