A Child Learns What He Lives

     When I was in grade school, I had a poster on the wall, in my room.  Laying in my bunk bed, that I shared with my sister, I looked at that poster many, many times.  At the top, the poster read, "A Child Learns What He Lives."  Around the edges were cute pastel colored cartoon kids.  And in the middle were a list of things that children learn from parents actions.  For some reason, even after that poster was gone, the message stayed with me. 
     As I went from a child to a teen, I went from having small problems to having very large problems, for myself and my parents.  But I feel very fortunate to have had parents that taught by example.  Some parents go by the saying, "Do as I say, not as I do."  Then they wonder why their teens have developed all the bad habits that they have.  Even though I was far from the perfect teen, day after day, I saw my parents living a moral life, and that life, gave me the roots I needed to get back on track after those teen years were over.
     Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."  The poster that hung on my wall, basically said the same thing, in different words.  I have to thank God for imprinting that message on my heart when I was young, and for giving me parents that not only taught morals, but lived what they were teaching.