Children in the Boat - Parenthood

 

                                            “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord.”

                                            Psalm 127:3 (NKJV)

Every family is a boat. 

Some boats are small and steady, built for quiet waters. Others carry scars from storms they’ve survived. But whatever shape the boat takes, God entrusts children into it, little ones who cannot steer the vessel, cannot judge the tides and cannot calm the waves. 

Their protection rests in the hands of those God has placed at the helm. 

This morning, as I walked and prayed, I sensed again something the Lord has been uncovering in me for some time now: His heart for the protection of children. Not in a political sense, not driven by emotion, but in the quiet, steady way that comes when the Spirit highlights something again and again. 

When we protect the children in our boat, we also protect the mothers, and when mothers are protected and honoured, the whole society becomes healthier, steadier, more able to flourish. 

A nation that cares for its children and its mothers will always be stronger than one that does not.

The Father’s Role and the Mother’s Role

In the home, mothers and fathers carry different strengths, and the beauty is found when those strengths work together. 

A mother brings warmth, closeness, sensitivity and a quiet wisdom that fills the boat with life.

A father brings direction, security, firmness and a steady hand that keeps the boat pointed toward true north. 

Children need both. Not in competition. Not in fragments. But in coordination, like two hands working to guide the same rudder. 

When parents move together, not perfectly, but faithfully, the boat becomes a place of safety. A place where the child can breathe, learn, grow and discover who God created them to be. 

Guarding the Boat 

We live in days where the seas around us are unsettled.

There are pressures on children that previous generations would never have imagined. Pressures on their minds, their identities, their innocence and even their understanding of truth.

To protect the boat is not to seal it off from the world .It is to create a space where God’s truth is clearer than the world’s confusion. 

It is to bring Scripture into the home gently and consistently. To speak truth with calmness, not fear. To guide our children toward the Lord’s voice above all others.

And it is to recognise that when we guard the hearts of our children, we are honouring the heart of God Himself.

Jesus spoke strongly about this. He warned about causing little ones to stumble. He lifted children into the centre of His teaching and said that welcoming a child in His name is to welcome Him.

This tells us that protecting children is not simply a parental duty. It is an act of worship. A response to the heart of Christ.

A Prayer for Our Boats

Father, 

teach us to steer well.

Help us to protect the little ones You have entrusted to us.

Give us wisdom as fathers and mothers

to work together with gentleness and clarity.

Strengthen our homes.

Fill our boats with Your peace.

And let truth, Your truth, be the compass that guides us.

Amen.