Today, we have a guest blog and poem by one of Bethel’s elders, Chris Campbell. Enjoy!
Proverbs 22:6 tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go,/ And when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Our pastor made the point that this proverb is principle and not promise. Yes, but we find promise in the principle because God-ordained outward means to have spiritual effects. We can’t will faith onto our children, but we pray for our children in the confidence that His grace will extend through His covenant from one generation to the next.
The following poem is about a father watching for the Lord’s work in his son.
A Boy at Work
From the window, I watch him run the roto-tiller—
Tilting it when the tines on one side dig too deep,
Signaling to the dog whose hair he cut
This morning. It’s his day off from his summer job;
I like to keep busy, he tells me.
Long-limbed, he’s stronger than I was
At that age and has tried his hand at engines,
Computers, and carpentry.
Yesterday he flew over the ocean.
Out of cellphone reach, I miss his gravelly voice.
He’s never been talkative though he’s called out
“Dad!” when I’ve raised my voice in anger.
I respect his quietness and wait for him to
Speak the Scriptures and own them for himself.
He takes his hands off the tiller—
Something I had never thought to do—
And lets the tiller claw its way forward
Haphazardly, as he talks to the dog.
He grabs hold again, pivots it around,
And guides it forward as it breaks up the ground.
I watch for some acknowledgement—
A gesture or look—that he’ll bear well
His father’s hopes for him,
That one day he’ll articulate
That hope for another.
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