3 Little Fellows Follow Me...

Wow, it's January 13th already? Where has the month gone? It seems to have just flown by! I wanted this blog to be more active than this, but every time I sit down to write, something comes up.

But I have a few minutes today, so here's what's on my heart.

I saw this poem, and I'd love to share it with you:

A Little Fellow Follows Me

by Rev. Claude Wisdom White, Sr 

 

A careful mom I ought to be,

A little fellow follows me.

I do not dare to go astray,

For fear he'll go the selfsame way.

Not once can I escape his eyes;

Whate'er he sees me do he tries.

Like me he says he's going to be,

This little chap who follows me...

I must remember as I go

Through summer sun and winter snow,

I'm molding for the years to be-

That little chap who follows me.

*NOTE: In the original poem, the first line reads "A careful man I ought to be," but I'm a woman. So I adapted it. This poem is for the parent of a little boy, but it works just as well for parents of little girls.

Wow. What a wonderful picture. Parent navigating through life, followed closely behind by her small son. Watching her every move and gesture, listening to her every word and tone, paying attention to every mood and attitude.

It's true, actions do speak louder than words. I can tell my kids to be kind to others until I'm blue in the face, but if I don't demonstrate kindness myself, they'll never learn it.

The apostle Paul actually told the Phillippians to follow after him, to do as he did:

Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. (Phillippians 4:9)

I want to be able to say that to my children. Nowadays, many parents live by the "do as I say, not as I do" mentality. They tell their kids to live one way, then they themselves live another. It's much easier to raise children this way - tell them what we want them to do, and live whatever way we want. But is it better for our children?

I'm not perfect. By any stretch of the imagination. And I do or say things I shouldn't, as anyone does. But my heart aches when I see or hear these things coming from my children. Because I know they got it from me. I need to constantly remind myself that there are kids around. I want them to be kind, loving, obedient, godly people. So for them to become that, I must first become that. 

It's definitely not easy to change one's thoughts or behaviors, especially since you've been thinking or behaving that way for 34 years. That's when I pull out Philippians 4:13: "I can do all this through him who gives me strength."