Day 107 - 2 Kings 3-4

ONE-YEAR JOURNEY OF THE BIBLE
Day 107 - 2 Kings 3-4 (How Would You Fare if Your Survival Depended on Your Children?)
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"A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves." So Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" And she said, "Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil."  Then he said, "Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors--empty vessels; do not gather just a few.  And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones."  So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out.  Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There is not another vessel." So the oil ceased.  Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest."  (2 Kings 4:1-7)

The woman in our Scripture passage above is in a pretty dire distress being in real danger of losing her two sons to her creditors to be sold as slaves.  She goes to Elisha for help and Elisha told her to gather as many vessels as she could for God will perform a miracle by filling those empty jars with oil using the the little that she had.  Fortunately for the poor widow, her two sons were good enough to obey their mother in going to their neighbors to borrow the vessels which resulted in their deliverance from being sold to slavery. 

Fast forward today in the land of independence called America where the majority of children do not know the meaning of responsibility and contributing to the support of their households in which they live and eat for free.  I truly doubt that every child or teenager would pitch in for their family's sustenance or even their very survival.  I wonder how many foreclosures and bankruptcies could have been avoided if only the children of those households chipped in whatever they could to help.

I realize that some children are naturally selfish and rebellious and grow up that way despite their parents doing all the right things to raise them up as responsible citizens.  But as I have observed in many families, parents are also to be blamed for the sad state of their children's lack of responsibility.  These parents somehow believe or think that their children should not experience hardship and pain as much as possible and that includes putting them to work at an early age in order to learn responsibility.

My wife and I feel very blessed that our children all help out for the support of our household.  Obviously, some are much more helpful than the other but I know without a doubt that everyone of them will do exactly as the sons of the poor widow should my wife ever fall into a similar situation, God forbid.

My wife and I always get complements from our friends about how our children are so helpful around or house even without us telling them what to do.  We tell them that it is all a blessing from God and it also helps that we started training them at a very young age to work and help each other out.  It also helped that I have never given any of my children allowances; they all had to work for their money.  

They witness daily the simple life that my wife and I live and so they have also adopted it in their own lives.  We have tried to instill in them what we believe are the greatest values in life such as helping others, diligence, honesty, integrity, responsibility, faith, love, friendship and hospitality to name a some. 
I am convinced that every parent who puts those values first in their own lives and teach them to their children will also reap the benefits that my wife and I enjoy with our children.