o u ’ v e heard it said, “The family that prays together stays together.” From rather disheartening observa tions at times, however, my wife and I have come to the conclusion that the family that “ prays” together may yet go shipwreck unless that family also “ plays” together. If this sounds like the watered down philosophy of a too modern evangelical, hold steady for a few paragraphs. And if you are also a parent, take brief inventory of your own family activities and the results of them. We have seven children. The oldest is newly married. The next oldest is in college. One is in high school and two are in junior high. My namesake is a second grader, our youngest a girl of three. So while we make no pre tense of knowing all there is to be known about the do and do not aspects of Christian parenthood, we have learned lessons which may prove relevant to some of the less initiated. If any one rule for being a successful mother and father has emerged from the trial and error of our family life, it is this: to win your children, you must make them feel you are the most wonderful people in all the world. Discipline, of course. But give discipline meaning because it comes from two people who give legs to love, and heart to happiness. We have fallen far short of the ideals which hindsight now gives to us. But we thank God for the evidences just the same of mixing fun with faith to lead little minds out of the wonder-world of childhood into the reality of a Christ-centered „life.
Y
CH R IS T IA N HOME SECTION
THE FAMILY
S^have taken note since our own childhoods of Christian homes which have succeeded, spiritually speaking, and Christian homes which have failed. Without exception, we have found that children go astray from homes where the solemn truths of the Bible are proclaimed as dynamic law, but where the parents, however sincere, fail to add that warmth of genuiness which must be seen for the Christian faith to ring real in a child’s calculating mind. There is not time here to speak of negativism. Ex cept to say that any parent is on dangerous ground if the things he says “ no” to are not outbalanced by the things to which he says “ yes.” But I do want to empha size that, in my opinion, successful Christian parenthood involves identification with the child in all the details and delights of life. From earliest childhood, we have found time to fill each day with at least a few moments of family frolic: long hikes through the woods which surround our house, picnics along some nearby waterway, parlor games, and a family fun night, whenever my hectic schedule would allow. Out of these bright threads we have interwoven the more somber strands of family responsibility. The result? One by one—and to God be all the glory!
PLAYING TOGETHER
by KEN ANDERSON
40
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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