One growing season a farmer had a beautiful crop of grain. But it was wiped out by a hailstorm a week before the harvest. His son expected the farmer to lash out in bitterness and despair. But instead he accepted the loss in a spirit of faith in God and His care.

Today this farmer’s son is a person who believes in God and has also learned to live with failure and loss. He thinks of this devastated grain field as his father’s most productive crop because it taught him an assuring lesson he has never forgotten.

When it comes to our own children, we should remember that the lessons and values we want to teach them are more easily caught than taught. When you think about it, the New Testament has a lot of warnings about how you need to live and be a good example. Jesus gave the preeminent teaching about how we are to be “salt and light” (Matthew 5:13-16).

Modeling the right behavior in front of our children is a lot more effective than lectures and empty words. Don’t think they are not looking!

Kyle Campbell