My Paw Paw (grandfather) was a man of many talents. He was a Navy man, a barber, a musician, an artist, a writer, and thinker. He was also a knife-man. As a barber in rural NC, he’d often cut the hair of a farmer who didn’t have money to pay for the cut. In classic country-style, Paw Paw would allow the farmer to leave his pocket knife as collateral for future payment. It’s not surprising that when he decided to retire from cutting hair, he had a drawer-full of knives.
I inherited Paw Paw’s love for a good pocketknife. I remember watching him sharpen knives on his old whetstone. That’s an art-form in and of itself, by the way. It takes a certain amount of skill and discipline, a steadiness of hand, and a great deal of intentionality and patience.
As a parent, I can take a few lessons from Paw Paw’s knife-honing skills. I’m going to apply those same principles to the way Kim and I are raising our kids! I want to be intentional, skilled, steady, and persistent.
The thing that stands out to me today is this: It’s a process. It takes time to produce a well-honed knife; it takes time to shape and sharpen the lives of my kids. There is no quick fix to developing a family that follows Jesus. It’s only by repeated, skilled interaction with a whetstone—a device designed to file away dullness and bring the edge of the knife into alignment—that the knife becomes a sharp tool. As I parent, I have to be intentional about my interaction with my kids. My life, my habits, my reactions, my words, my conversations with my kids—those are the whetstone that God will use to sharpen and shape my kids.
If you’re a parent trying to raise your kids to know and follow Jesus, be encouraged. God wants you to succeed as a parent. He promises to give you wisdom, strength, power, and all the resources you need to do a good job. It may not be easy, but it is possible.
Proverbs 27:17 tells us that iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.
But unless the knife meets the whetstone (intentionality) no sharpening will happen. Take the time, think about what you want to see happen in the lives of your children, and start sharpening.
1 Comment
Jill E.Ewing-Doerzbacher · February 4, 2009 at 2:24 pm
SUPRISE!!! Did you know I occasionally read your blogs?? In a two fold way Stac this reminded me of my own father. A) No one loved to hear your “Paw-Paw” stories or songs that he taught you more than my father. B) What a compassionate yet firm man of God he was. Thanks for blog…Thanks for the place it took me!!!! Hi to the family!!!