have let him walk all over you. You also let him mouth off and be obnoxious. You say your son has been kicked out of two schools for smoking marijuana but you would send him to a third school if he can get in someplace. Why? I'll bet he would not have been out smoking marijuana if it was his own money going down the drain. Why make the same mistake a third time? Quit asking yourself where you failed and start to make some de mands on that spoiled son. Do not let him give you that old line about inheriting a lousy world. Your gen eration inherited a lousy world, too. It is what we do with that lousy world that counts. Smoking marijuana will not help. Lay down the law to your son, which is what you should have done years ago. If he rebels, kick him out. I know you love him, but maybe being forced to make his own way in this world will make a man out of him. That is a letter from a 16 year old. I realize that some parents are cruel to their children and do make unreasonable demands. And it is this kind of parent that gives credence to the com p la in ts of teens. But how many of you par ents are having problems with your children because you have failed to do everything that Cod requires of you as a parent? I have parents ask, "Pastor, pray for my child." Sometimes I cannot. How can I ask God to do for that child what the parent is responsi ble to do? There is a Spanish pro verb that puts it well: "An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy." Before Jochebed commit ted Moses to the Lord she first did
all she was responsible for doing as a parent. Only then did she have the freedom to commit him to Cod's care. We read in Exodus 2:5-10 that Pharoah's daughter found the baby. The arrangement with Phar oah's daughter was this: Jochebed would nurse the child until he was weaned. She would be paid for it. But when the child was weaned he would be turned over to Phar oah's daughter. Evidently Phar oah's daughter, at the prodding of God, saw the same potential in Moses that his mother saw. She probably wanted to see that po tential fulfilled. In the East, at this time, mothers usually did not wean their chil dren until they were about three years old. Moses' mother had three years, and only three years, to give Moses the start that would equip him for life in the home of an ungodly mother. You can be sure that Moses' mother did not waste any time during those three years. I am sure she did not spend a lot of time watching soap operas on TV, or reading silly novels. The development of her child, Moses, was her most important task! Mother, whether you know it or not; you, too, have a deadline. Very soon that child is going to be a teenager, ready to begin growing away from home and de pendence on parents. What are you doing with the precious time you have with your child, now? Parent, what are you doing to help him assume the responsibility of independence? Let me make myself perfectly clear on this issue! I am not talk ing about cruel or unusual punish ment. I am not talking about kick-
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