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Key Bible Verse: It is good for the young to submit to the yoke of his discipline (Lamentations 3:27). Bonus Reading: Lamentations 3:27—33

The old family farm depended on children doing their chores. Now the main reason for jobs around the house is training in work habits.

It would be easier for parents to do the work themselves. Your kids will protest, stall, forget, or just do sloppy work. They'll break dishes, spill milk, leave ridges of unmowed grass on the lawn, and fail to clean your paintbrushes. But if they learn to finish a job, you've given them an invaluable gift. If they don't, they're headed for lifelong problems.

Major learning requires patient, persistent teachers. You don't learn trigonometry by having somebody yell at you. You learn by doing problems under the supervision of a teacher who insists on disciplined effort but is also available to help you. Similarly, children need parents who don't lose their tempers over lack of performance and help them get the lawn mower started, show them the spots they missed while washing the car, and shrug it off when they break the china. They also need parents prepared to invest years to make work become second nature, sending them back for the third time to finish the job, and enduring their whining when they can't go immediately out to play.

—Tim Stafford in Never Mind the Joneses

My Response: To help my kids succeed at their assigned tasks, I'll …

Thought to Apply: The best antidote I know to a confused head or to tangled emotions is work with one's hands. It straightens out thoughts. —MARY ELLEN CHASE

Adapted from Never Mind the Joneses (InterVarsity, 2004) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, help me make my home a spiritual equipping center for each family member.

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