Constant Reminders

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. ~~ Deuteronomy 6:5-9 NIV

Often I feel like a nagging mother. I’m constantly reminding my children of their chores. I’ve tried all the chore chart systems, star systems, rewards and allowances. Nothing seems to help them to remember what to do without my prompting them.

“Did you feed and water the dogs?”

“Did you remember to brush you teeth?”

“Did you put away your clothes? “

Over and over again, I’m repeating myself. I’ve thought of recording in the digital voice recorder, numbering my reminders and pressing play on the appropriate number when that particular task needs to be done.

But then I remembered the scripture from Deuteronomy 6. The Lord gives us the commandments that we’re to put upon our hearts, but then He directs us parents to “Impress them on your children.” According to Dictionary.com, impress means “to affect deeply or strongly in mind or feelings; influence in opinion; to fix deeply or firmly on the mind or memory, as ideas or facts; to urge, as something to be remembered or done.”

How do we have something fixed deeply on the mind or memory? We must hear it over and over again. It struck me that’s how it is with our children, they must hear it over and over again. That’s why it states in Deuteronomy 6, “talk about them when. . .”

“You sit at home.” While we’re at home, we’re to teach our children the scriptures and how to follow the Word.

“When you walk along the road.” Grant it, we drive most places today. So while driving around on our errands, to and from practices, we should be giving our children instructions.

“When you lie down.” So as we put them to bed at night we need to remind them of the word of God, tell them what they do right and tell them how to correct what they did wrong.

“When you get up.” We need to model for them how to read the word and pray when they get up preparing for the day ahead.

I gather from this scripture, we’re to talk to our children all day to remind them of what to do. It’s a process to impress upon them God’s commandments. I wanted to tell them once and they remember it, but it has not happened that way for me. I think that’s why the rest of the scripture above tells us to put them on our hands, foreheads, doors and gates. We need constant reminding too. It’s a lifelong process.

If not already, let’s begin the daily process of getting in the Word of God all through out the day. We can use 3 X 5 note cards on our mirrors and refrigerator. I painted scripture in the skylight. Let’s talk about God’s commands all through out the day with each other and our children. Let’s see what a difference it will make for us. After all, we all need the constant reminders (especially when it comes to chores).

Engrafted by His Grace--