Proverbs 3:3 – “Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them about your neck, write them upon the table of your heart”.
A very successful college professor left a lucrative job, one with tenure, at a major American university, to teach…elementary school kids. When he was asked, “Why in the world would you leave a great job teaching college students to teach young kids?” He answered with this question, “Would you rather write your name on a brick before it’s baked or after it’s baked?”
Young children are like the clay that is used to make bricks before they’re baked. We have an incredible opportunity to write something very lasting and valuable on their hearts and on their lives. At the church we served in for almost 20 years, before we were called to lead Faith Fellowship Ministries of Southern New Jersey, there were bricks laid in the courtyard patio with names on them. The names represented people who donated funds toward the construction of the wonderful church building 14 years ago. The bricks are still there and the names are still legible. Why? Because they were written when the cement was still wet. It would have been nearly impossible to write the names on the bricks after they had already hardened.
Our children are like that wet clay, or like wet cement, and we are called to write things, very important things on their hearts. Proverbs 3:3 talks about mercy and truth, to write them on the table of our hearts. Like this wet cement, children are so very impressionable. That’s why spending time with them is a lasting and rewarding privilege and gift. Think about some of the things you say and believe today, most likely they were instilled in your heart at a young age.
Reading to or teaching a child the word of God will “write” scripture upon their heart. It will stay there, it will not leave. It’s like words written on wet cement before it dries. You can change a lot of things by writing the right things. Start today, write the Word of God on the table of the heart of the children in your life. Ask God to give you creative, positive and fun ways to make a lasting impression. Write! While the “cement” is still wet!