"Teach your children well." Read Proverbs 22:1-6. Graham Nash wrote these lyrics in a song of the same title that was released in the late 1960’s. The inspiration for the song's message was a famous 1962 photo by Diane Arbus 'Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park'. The image, which depicts a child with an angry expression holding the toy weapon, prompted Nash to reflect on the societal implications of messages given to children about war and other issues. Although I recently learned of the inspiration for Nash’s song, I must admit that the simple line of the song plays in my head from time to time. The instructions, “Teach your children well”, resonate with the words written in Holy Scripture 3000 years ago, “Start children off on the way they should go.” The theme of the proverb is about making good choices with humility and maintaining a godly reputation. We cannot overemphasize the importance of teaching children kindness in connection to loving people like Jesus loves us. Today, let’s choose to be kind and to teach kindness to our children.



Holy God, teach us to be kind as we teach our children to be kind. Help us to share what we have with those who are in difficulty. Help us to overcome our anger and hatred so that we do not withhold Christ-like love to others. Help us to teach our children well. Amen.