Planting the Path

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 127, Planting the Path.

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6.

Sit with those final words for a moment. He will not depart from it. That is not a wish. That is not a maybe. That is a promise with weight — a promise that stretches across decades, that reaches further than you can see from where you're standing today.

A child's heart is soft soil. There is a window of time when that soul is open and receptive in a way it will never be quite the same again. And what you plant there — the faith you live out loud in front of them, the words you speak over them, the small ordinary rhythms you build around them every day — none of that disappears. It goes down deep. It puts down roots that the years and the wandering and the world cannot fully pull up.

But look at what the text actually says: train. Not control. Not script every step. To train a child is to point them toward a direction, not to write every chapter of their story. You set the compass bearing. You mark the North. And then you entrust the journey to God — because the growth was never yours to produce. It was always His.

And real training doesn't happen in the big speech moments. It happens in repetition. In the ordinary. In what you do on a Tuesday morning when nothing feels significant — but they are watching. Children learn the way by watching someone walk it. That's why this Word calls you to go first. Let your children see you with your Bible open. Not as a performance, not to teach them a lesson — but because you genuinely need it yourself. When it's real in you, it becomes real to them.

And I know there are parents listening today who are tired. Children grown and seemingly far from the faith. Years of planting with no visible harvest in sight. I want you to hear this: the promise is long-term. "Even when he is old" — that phrase is in there because God knows the harvest takes time. He did not promise it would be fast. He promised it would be true. The seed you buried in faith is not lost. It is in God's hands, and He does not forget what has been entrusted to Him.

So today — before breakfast — do this one thing. Pray out loud. Speak the name of every child in your home, one by one. And for each one, ask God for one specific virtue — courage, kindness, integrity, faith. Not a general prayer. A prayer with a name and an intention. Because planting the path begins the moment your voice is the first one they hear talking to God.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.