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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The Training of a Boy to be a Man

We have this great son, Peyton, who is 14 and he is growing up in a tough world. It's chock full of lazy, self indulging, men. I hate to say that, and I really don't have a great first hand account of it, but my husband is full time Army National Guard and he deals with guys fresh out of boot camp. He comes home with the most ridiculous stories of laziness and self gratification that you have ever heard of. In return, it makes he and I that much harder on this sweet 14 yr. old boy.

We firmly believe that if you teach a boy to work hard then he will never be unemployed!


~~For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. 2 Thess. 3:10~~


Now, don't get too worried. You can look around our place and know that no one is going without a meal. We do take it very seriously that God says we are to work and work cheerfully.

~~Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than men. Colossians 3:23~~

We are still working on the cheerful part. Ha Ha

Here are a couple of pics. of this work ethic training in action.

We live in the county and our septic tank is one that has the 99% clean water coming out of it through field lines. Well ours stopped in the soon to be chicken/ turkey/ pig and maybe sheep pasture. We needed it to run on out about 70 more feet. My husband could have rented a back hoe for such job but why when we have a 5' 9", almost 200 lb., scrapping, young man who could dig it out. We did pay for this job. We have very few pay jobs around here but this was one of them. We just told him that daddy can pay for a back hoe or he can give you the money for a back hoe. He jumped at the chance to dig it out.
It has taken him about two weeks to get it all dug out and running downhill. It has been tedious at times but he stuck with it!! They will be laying the new field line and covering it up next week.


I love to see a kid, that could be sitting in front of a TV, doing something that benefits his whole family.


That is my next point. We are also training, said young man, to TAKE CARE of his family. This is one that hits home for me, as I am the product of a single mom who was left with three small children.

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It is very important for us that our children marry believers. ~~ Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 2 Cor. 6:14~~

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And also that they marry men who believe in taking care of their family and that we raise a man who does the same. ~~ But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Tim. 5:8~~ That is serious!

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We don't know how all of this will work out but we are praying hard for their hearts and that God will be glorified through our efforts.

And on a less serious note, I will leave off with a picture of my new girls mixing in with the old girls. They are doing well. I soon will have more eggs than a person should be allowed to have. Ha ha
I am linking this post up to the Barn Hop.


7 comments:

Greg and Donna said...

So do you believe in arranged marriages? We could work something out for the far out future! Great post and teaching for Peyton. We are working on that with Will. I feel like sometimes some of my older sons could be the spoiled boys Ronnie sees everyday. And I so appreciate backing up your beliefs with scripture!

justcallmerie said...

Love the post. Max is only just four, but I already see what can be good and what can be bad in raising him. I want just as you, a young man who knows how to work and care for his family.

Kudos to you and your husband. If only every boy had parents so loving and wise . . .

His bondservant said...

Great post Trixi. We are training our children to work and enjoy it too. Your son seems like a responsible young man...something rarely seen in this day. What a witness unto Christ. We too are already praying for our children's spouses. My daughter is 14 and I know I will not have much longer with her. She is already committed to not dating and going the courtship route. It is such a blessing to see her preparing herself and not make some of the same mistakes I did as a young girl. Blessings to you, Jackie

Unknown said...

Great post ! We are alike in so many ways. We don't have boys but 3 girls and they know how to work hard inside or outside. lol....

But on the other note, we too will not even let our daughters date a young man if he is not willing to go to church with us. We have not had to deal with a one from outside of our church yet so I really don't know how that will go but differently we need to see that a young man has a true heart for God and God's ways before being allowed to date one of our girls.

Thanks for bringing this up. We should post and talk about this more. There are those who don't have a clue on how to approach this area with their young ones.

Talk to you again soon,
Pat

Unknown said...

Well spoken! I am raising a teenage boy as well- and am disturbed by the number of lazy men in our culture...raising my teens on a farm, I believe, helps build responsibility as well as a strong work ethic. Keep up the good work!

A Joyful Chaos said...

I'm hoping our children will continue enjoying working. They aren't in their teens yet.......

Barb J. said...

Thanks for the inspiration. I have two wonderful, God-fearing boys, but I'll be the first to admit that they spend more time on their video games, etc. than I would like. This is something I have to prayerfully work on.