Teaching and Training

"As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise." Proverbs 27:21

Yep, I'm still reading through Proverbs!  It's hard to believe January is almost gone!  I'm already pondering and asking the Lord which book to study next, but I believe this year I will read Proverbs with along with every other book I read this year.  When the new year began, I thought I'd try to read my Bible all the way through....now that the first month is almost gone, I'm thinking I'd be better equipped to teach and train if I just studied 12 books (one for every month) and Proverbs.  So that's my goal for this year.

Recently, a friend and I were sharing some of the challenges of raising our children for the Lord.  The Lord reminded me that I cannot stand still in the "Motherhood Department."  If I want my children to succeed for the Lord, I have to wisely teach them and train them.  One of the areas that I have noticed is most effective (at least with my kiddos) is PRAISE!!  My kids thrive on praise!  I was reminded of that when I read Proverbs 27:21 this morning.  Just as the refining process is for the good of the gold, praise is for the good of man (who doesn't like to be praised?).
I have noticed when I praise my children, they try even harder to do right.  When I nag at them.....well, they're like me - they just want to skate by - doing the minimum requirements!
Martha and Ian love to help wash the dishes, and when we're NOT in a hurry, we let them help!  Last night I had Martha set the table for supper (one of her normal responsibilities) and I noticed the silverware were out of place.  As I looked at the table, two thoughts came to my mind:  1.  Martha didn't do her job right!  2.  I have never taken the time to SHOW her the right way to set the silverware!  So, I took a few moments, showed her the proper way to set the silverware, then let her correct the other places settings...and I remembered to praise her for a job well done!
We are training our children to respond with "Yes/No, Ma'am/Sir" when spoken to.  Ian forgets many times (as does Martha), but I have noticed that when I praise him for remembering by himself to respond the proper way, the next time he is even faster to respond the right way!
How thankful I am in my own life for the God-given gift of PRAISE!!  What a blessing to have praise to use to help teach and train our children to serve the Lord!