Yesterday I posted about reading Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire's children's book GEORGE WASHINGTON with my eight year old son, Caleb.  This morning he read their beautifully illustrated ABRAHAM LINCOLN aloud to me.  In the final pages Caleb put the book down multiple times to ask me about Slavery, Civil War, and why God didn't tell George Washington Slavery was wrong.  We went deep and took our time together, talking about God's Word and the sad things people have done throughout history.

When we returned to our reading these words struck us both:

"The Next day Lincoln walked into the town... An old Negro recognized the long, thin man man with the tall stove-pipe hat.  'Here is our savior,' he cried, and threw himself at Lincoln's feet.  And suddenly Lincoln was surrounded by Negroes, weeping and rejoicing as they cried; 'Glory, glory hallelujah.' "

He choked up and so did I.  We looked at one another and smiled wobbly smiles.  "Why are we so sad?"  he asked.  "Because, my son, slavery is so sad.  These people who were celebrating used to be slaves.  They were owned, bought and sold, they were likely beaten and treated like animals and not men.  I'm crying because I feel their unspeakable joy as I read these words. 'Glory, glory hallelujah', they cried; God had given them freedom through the conviction and actions of Abraham Lincoln.

Caleb is now downstairs playing shoots a ladders with his littlest brother as his middle brother plays his DS, but I'm still caught up in the preciousness of our time together this early morning.  And I wonder as I ponder, what good works has God planned for my sons.  What redemptive work of His will they will get to be a part of?

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  (Ephesians 2:10)

I'm also thinking about this lofty (and yet so simple) idea of reading and talking together.  It's not the ABCs and 123s they learn in their lesson books, it something far greater, built upon those learning blocks.  We don't just want to raise children who make good grades, we long to raise them to be thinkers, articulate and good, moral and virtuous; servants, ambassadors, and stewards of the knowledge they've gained at school and by our side.  But the key to this, I believe, are those three words... "by our side."

Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  (Deuteronomy 11:19)

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)

Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.  Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, "Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children." (Deuteronomy 4:9-10)

We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.  (Psalm 78:4)

YES

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.  (Proverbs 22:6)