Daddy, what is that? Where did it come from? How did you get it? Why are you doing that? It seems that children have an innate ability to ask about anything and everything for endless amounts of time. And that is the way God made them. It’s how they learn. Unfortunately, too many adults get irritated with their persistent questions and send the children away.
But God wanted children’s questions to be answered. After the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River, God had them set up stones of remembrance. He told Joshua, “When your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?Then you shall answer them…” by providing the history of how they had miraculously crossed the Jordan river on dry ground in a time when the river usually flooded.
It is the sharing of history that helps shape the mindset of future generations. According to Wikipedia, A griot is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, or musician. The griot is a repository of oral tradition. The psalmist asked God to help him be a spiritual griot when he said, “Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come” (Psa. 71:18, NKJV).
God wants each of us to make the same request of Him. We are to tell the next generation Who God is and what He has done in our lives. Our children are overloaded with information that does little to help build character or faith in God. It is our responsibility to do our part to change that.
Photo: Ardella’s son and grandson
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