Psalm 32:8 Guided by My eye

When my children were young, all it took for my Jennifer and David to obey was a glance of approval or disapproval. But for my Jonathan, it usually took a warning, and often some form of punishment. Though what I am about to say might see a little overkill in regard to young children, it is none-the-less true: "The way of the sinner is hard."  Some children seem bent on learning things the hard way. Now before I continue to grossly misrepresent the picture of my Jonathan, I need to say that most of his defiance was the result of his father not modeling the behavior I wanted him to follow.  If our life doesn't live louder than our words, then our children will be unable to embrace our values and boundaries. We must first live inside the boundaries we set for others. I will never forget when Jonathan was fifteen: He looked at me and said: "Dad, when your life lives louder than your words, I'll follow you."

The flip side of this truth is that if we are living inside the boundaries that God sets for us, then all that it should take to get a child to follow is a glance of the eye. Now of course this will take cultivating but this is the goal. King David writes in Psalm 32:8 , "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you shall go: I will guide you with me eye."  It is a wonderful thing to have a child live so in tune with their father's will and desires, that all it takes is a glance of the eye.  I think more parents would experience this, if they were just as easily in tune with their heavenly Father's glances.  When we are guided by our Father's eye, I have no doubt that our children will be guided by ours.