«And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up» (Deuteronomy 6:6, 7).
I READ THAT ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF CAPE TOWN, SOUTH Africa, there is a national park with a public warning that says, «This is your inheritance. Take nothing but photographs. Leave nothing but footprints.»
«Leave nothing but footprints. » Isn’t that precisely what will happen when we leave this world? We will not be able to take anything with us when we leave, and only our footprints will be left. What will those footprints tell about us? As Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty write, will they be for glory or for shame??
Those questions made me think of my footprints; the ones I will leave in the lives of the ones who are close to me, especially my children. How will they remember me? If, as Ellen G. White says, «parents are to consider that they are in the place of God to their children. «—Child Guidance, ch. 74, p. 480, how well or badly have I represented God to them? Will I have presented a little of God’s compassion and faithfulness to them, His tenderness and kindness?
If you are a father, or mother, today is a good day to ask God to help you, through His Holy Spirit, to represent Him well before your children. No other work is more important than this because, as the same book states, «The work of sanctification begins in the home. «—Ibid., p. 481; and those «who are Christians in the home will [also] be Christians in the church and in the world. «—Ibid.
Dad, mom, no greater honor is granted to mortals than that of being God’s representatives to our children. In fact, we are told that «the mother who trains her children for Christ is as truly working for God as is the minister in the pulpit. «—Prophets and Kings, ch. 17, p. 219.
We will not be able to take anything from this world, and we will leave nothing behind, except for our footprints. May those footprints glorify God’s name in lives of our children and everyone we interact with as we pass through this world!
Heavenly Father, please help me to understand that “the saint in heaven must first be a saint upon earth.»—Child Guidance, ch. 74, p. 481. Please help me to represent you well, today and always, starting within my own home.