I love how my children are always challenging me to evaulate my heart motives and my convictions. As a parent, there have been several times where I have chosen to “raise the bar” in certain areas of character and integrity. As leaders and influencers in our homes our ceiling will be our childrens floor, in other words, our highest standard has the potential to be the foundation for their lives.

My mother’s heart longs for my children to excel beyond where I am, I want them to go further than where I’ve been. I want my life to be an investment into theirs so that the return will be even greater. God has been challenging me to stand firm in my faith and to uphold His standards in our home. I dont’ know about you but I find it difficult NOT to compare myself with other mothers and woman who I look up to. I think it is great to have examples and role models in our lives but ultimately the word of God needs to be our greatest influence!

My son, Judah spearheaded another amazing challenge yesterday when he asked me to give him some fruit snacks in the morning. He told me that “daddy said I could have some”. I confirmed this statement with him several times and he kept giving me the same answer. Although I knew in my heart that Jim probably didn’t say that, I went along with it. I told Judah that I was going to ask daddy once he came downstairs if he did in fact tell him that. He said “ok”. I noticed at this point he looked a little sheepish and got very quiet as he ate. Once he was done we had a conversation with Jim. Jim’s response was that he told Judah he could have some fruit snacks “at some point today, not necessarily in the morning”. However, Judah assured me that daddy said he could have the fruit snacks right then.

So what’s the problem? To some it may appear that Judah was telling the truth: Jim DID say he could have the fruit snacks at some point, right? Wrong. In actuality Judah was lying BECAUSE he was trying to twist the truth to decieve me into giving him the snack when he wanted it. Ultimately, he was trying to deceive me in that moment. The definition of lying is: the intent to deceive. Whenever we try to twist the truth or hold back the entire truth we are lying. This definition takes lying from mental awareness to a heart/soul awareness. It begs the question of our true heart motives whenever we speak to others. It makes us responsible and accountable to be truthful in ALL circumstances.

This is a principle that our children NEED to learn in order to have pure hearts before God. The Bible is clear in the book of Matthew that “blessed are those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God“! I want to see Him and I want my children to see Him too!

Have you ever thought of lying as the intent to deceive?

In the above example with Judah, he was not given a consequence because we had not taught him this principle yet. Although, it was obvious, from his countenance and behavior that deep down he knew what he was trying to do, deceive me, and he knew it was wrong. Going forward he is now responsible for what he knows. If he chooses to lie in the future he will be accountable to his words and actions. This is the same with me, I am, as a mother, responsible and accountable for my words and actions, with my husband, my children and all the people I influence around me.

How can instilling this knowledge to your children be beneficial?

May you be blessed and honored as you live a honest and transparent life. May God give you the strength and the wisdom that you need to encourage your little ones be ALL that God created them to be. May all of our hearts to be pure and truthful before the Lord!