Making impressions on our children involves intentional communication of love and values. Being a good model means embracing a life filled with integrity. It involves compassion and caring for others, and it also takes responsibility for mistakes and asks for forgiveness.
We really have no control over what comes to us from our parents. We didn’t pick our family. We didn’t pick our heritage. But how we leave this world is something different. We have influence on our legacy. We have responsibility on what we leave behind. What legacy do YOU want to leave behind?
We gravitate toward relationships where we get connection, closeness, acceptance, and approval. An essential part of our human nature is the need to belong. God designed us to start in relationship and continue with relationships. How do we grow relationships with intention and attention?
Like the farmer, parents sow seeds. We plant seeds for growth in character and values. We sow rituals to foster traditions. Our children’s hearts are the soil. Sometimes it is rocky. Sometimes shallow. Other times our seeds compete with the thorns of bad habits and negative culture. But there is always the HOPE that some seed will fall on good soil. We need to be faithful to continue sowing seeds AND nurture the soil.
