SHOWING GOOD EXAMPLE

It is always the prayer of every parent that their children do better than they did. As parents work day and night, they try to introduce their children gradually into the system they try to build. A child who is to take over the throne of his father as King for example, will at some age, be brought to the meeting of his father with the elders Council. It is often said that success without a worthy successor is more or less a failure. There should always be provisions for a positive continuity. Children as we know, learn more from what they see than what they hear or are told; this is why parents must be careful about the type of life they live, less their children become worse than they ever were. 
In the first reading of today, we see that after the death of King Solomon, his son Rehoboam could not keep the kingdom together. He may have been born in the early days of King Solomon, but it is obvious that he did not learn the good deeds his father had done early in life, but the terrible things in his later life as we see in the first reading of yesterday. Though God was angry with Solomon and promised to divide the kingdom, he would have relented if Rehoboam had lived a good life. 
We are told in proverbs 22:6, to train up our children in the way they should go, and when they grow up, they will not depart from it. Any wrong thing a child learns, may be difficult to erase, and they may do worse when they have the opportunity. 

Lord grant us the grace to show good example to our children and those under us. Amen. 

Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP.