Fierce Protection

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I used to observe Christian families raising their children with a sort of wonder at how they decide to walk the line between sheltering and protecting their children. Recently I encountered a situation that caused me to feel a deep sense of our need to protect Susanna's opportunity to have an intimate relationship with Jesus. I still don't know what that will look like in her life, and I plan to prayerfully take it one season at a time (maybe one day at a time), but I made a vow that I would do everything in my power to help her avoid situations that would confuse her or inhibit her ability to see Jesus as her friend, king and of course, Savior. I see now that we must saturate her early years with Jesus.

When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live. (Proverbs 4:3-4 ESV)

These verses indicate that teaching your children to have wisdom, which is the thing that will carry them through life, starts very young. Solomon was "the only one in the sight of my mother" in a pre-birth control culture where a big family is normal and esteemed. In other words, Solomon was still a baby.

So now I have to ask myself - what does it look like to teach Susanna wisdom right now?