When your first child is about two or three years old, it seems like most of your day is spent in correction. In our house, it was the “terrible three’s”. I remember calling my dad during a particularly “no” filled day and asking if I would still have to punish her this often when she was older. He promised me if I were diligent at three, then the rest of her childhood would seem easy in comparison. He was right. After those crazy few months, our daughter has been delightful and punishments have had to be given only rarely.
At some point after the year fondly known as “establishing who the parents are”, we tend to go into more of a maintenance, correction mode. Most parenting books will tell you this is a result of establishing firm but loving boundaries when your children are young (for the most part!). Because rebellion becomes less common in our homes, we sometimes forget to train our children how to avoid sin and deal with ongoing temptations.
Sometimes we forget Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen. They didn’t have university degrees, nor did most of the people they taught. We don’t know how long the sermon lasted on the Day of Pentecost, but what is recorded is not very long or very complex. Yet, many of us are terrified to share our faith because we don’t think we know enough.
