31 Virtues for our Kids ~ Self Control

Self -Control

For the month of January we will be praying for 31 Virtues for our Kids maybe even for ourselves too!


1 Thessalonians 5:6 (New International Version)
So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.



Last night, my daughter ate too much pizza and now she lies on my couch this morning with a tummy ache. We talked a little about how maybe she should not have eaten the whole personal pizza. Every time we eat at Mr. M's she eats the whole thing and then her tummy hurts. I asked her why do you eat the whole pizza and she said, "It's good"!



Sometimes, we need to teach our kids that just because it is good or seems to be good doesn't mean we should eat copious amounts of the round circles of warm, cheesey yumminess. Rather, we should use self control to keep us from taking in to much. Sometimes too much of a good thing can be bad for us, it can give us a tummy ache.



But it is more than just teaching them to not over eat (which is a wonderful thing to teach them) it is about teaching constraint, in all areas in their lives. If we can show them good habits when they are young they will be able to carry it with them into adulthood. How many times have we as adults wished we had learned to be more disciplined when we were younger and how that would have affected us as now? So now is the time to help our children lay the ground work of self-control.



Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines self-control as restraint exercised over one's own impulses, emotions, our desires.



The more I think about this, I begin to realize how much this plays into the idea of not falling into sin. Sin is not being self-controlled, giving into my own impulses, letting my emotions cloud my judgment, and giving into the desires of the human nature. If we can pray for our children to be self controlled we are praying for the first line of defense in not falling prey to the seduction of sin. It is a very powerful virtue to not only pray for our children to have but for us as well.


*"Father, help my children no to be like many others around them, but let them be alert and self-controlled in all they do."




Today, let us be self-controlled in our lives and be an example to the little ones around us so that we all may....



*by Bob Hostetler, it is excerpted from Pray! magazine issue #4, 31 Biblical Virtues to Pray for Your Kids