The Ring Bear

It was the first time he had been asked to be in a wedding. As he came down the aisle, he would take a step, turn his hands into claw-like instruments, grasp at the air and growl like a bear, lips curled and forehead furrowed.

The people were laughing at such an unusual sight. When he got to the row where the bride’s mother was sitting, she pulled him to the side and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Grrrrr,” he growled. “I’m being a ring bear.” Unfortunately, no one taught him how a “ring bear” behaved.

Parents and teachers have an obligation and responsibility to educate and encourage children to learn and behave appropriately. Often we place expectations on the young when they have no experience or have had no one to explain how they are to behave. When they make mistakes or when things go wrong, we put the blame on them even if they have had no opportunity to learn differently.

That is the reason Solomon gave such wise guidance, “Listen to your father’s experience…” True wisdom comes from God and parents must invest time with Him and in His Word if they are to prepare their children for the demands of life. Often we expect our children to know how to behave and what to do when we have neither taught them nor provided an example for them. That’s why we have “Ring Bears.”

Prayer: Help us, Father, to accept our responsibility to faithfully teach our children in “the way they should go.” In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture for Today: Proverbs 4:1-13 Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, And the years of your life will be many.