Article September 30, 2013 Issue

God's children—responsive, not rebellious

Glory Holzworth

As a young parent, I so wanted the best for my children, as do all parents. I wanted them to be successful in life and to wisely govern themselves. In raising my children I often turned to Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy for guidance. One of the many statements I took to heart reads: “Children should obey their parents; insubordination is an evil, blighting the buddings of self-government” (p. 236). 

Since I knew how important it was for all of us to obey our divine Parent, our heavenly Father’s laws outlined in the Ten Commandments (see Exodus 20:1–17) and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5–7), I felt it must be equally important for our kids to obey the rules patterned after those laws in our home—to not tell lies or hurt others, but to treat them kindly; to respect others’ property; to share; to be gentle, courteous, and helpful; in short, live the Golden Rule (see Luke 6:31)—doing “unto others as we would have them do unto us” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, p. 497). Not only would that help them as adults, but it would also make family life happier, more peaceful, orderly, productive, the way we’d all like it to be! But the big question was, How could I best aid my children along these lines? How could I help them be responsive to the rules they needed to follow, rather than rebellious?

In figuring out the answer to this question, I learned a number of important things. First of all, it was so important to pray for and with my children daily. One of my favorite prayers is in the Bible’s book of Luke. It’s a description of the child Jesus, and I like to prayerfully consider it as a description for all children. “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him” (2:40). It was also reassuring to realize that my children did hear God. The Bible tells us of God, “Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee” (Deuteronomy 4:36). I could see that since God made each of us to hear His voice, we must hear it! Mrs. Eddy writes, “… God is our Shepherd. He guards, guides, feeds, and folds the sheep of His pasture; and their ears are attuned to His call. In the words of the loving disciple, ‘My sheep hear my voice, … and they follow me; … neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand’ ” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, pp. 150–151). 