Where Are You Leading Them?

Part of the series Questions For Home Education
Written by Léo Gaumont, published on 2014-09-01.

We have all heard the first line of the Bible which reads, “in the beginning, God”, but how often do we consider that in the end, it is still God?

Our world view is shaped by everything we have experienced, whether true or false. We tend to trust what we have come to believe as true and may even defend ourselves when presented with opposing thoughts. This series is meant to challenge your world view.

Bible Reference: Deut. 6:4-6

Raising children requires a lot of things, not the least of which is parental leadership. Since those in leadership positions are, supposedly… leading, it might be a good idea to ask them, exactly where they are leading us. Children would never ask such a question of their parents so it must be asked by parents of themselves. So, where are you leading your children?

Leadership requires a direction, otherwise it becomes whatever it has to be in order to survive, eventually taking on a life of its own. Leadership takes a variety of different approaches, not all which lead to life and truth. Leadership that makes sure nothing is ever challenged or questioned is not leadership but a way of maintaining the same old thing or encouragement to live in a rut. Leadership that is showing others how to do what everybody else is doing, is not leadership either, but simply a matter of being at the beginning of a line of followers. Leadership is showing that you know where you going and how you are going to get there. Leadership is not as much spoken as it is demonstrated by example. Once a path has been chosen, leadership does all it can to make that path available to all those who are following. Children follow parents, whether or not those parents have a plan. Good parents do. Bad parents don’t. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. Not good!

If the beginning is marked by God creating life, the end should be obvious. There may be a long time between the beginning and the end of your child’s life, but if there is no clear vision of where it all ends, nothing they will do in life will ultimately have any meaning. When parents focus on the temporal, there may be an appearance of success, even if only “temporarily”, but if the eternal becomes the goal, life takes on a meaning and decisions become thoughtful.

The beginning of home education is the realization that nothing can take the place of parents or of the God-given learning environment of the home. Parents ultimately will answer to an eternal God, not to man, so we need to pay more attention to the bigger picture. To acknowledge God as the beginning should lead to God in the end. If we train our children to see the end, then and only then will they be able to clearly see the path they need to take to get there. Parents, therefore have a relatively “minor” role in leading their children to the eternal God, who in turn assumes the larger role of leading them in their lives.

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