Goal Setting Part 2 – Baby Hits a Homerun

It encourages me when a door opens that I did not foresee.  Such is the case with my recent blog post on goal setting.  The topic and outcome felt lackluster to me but it a spawned a Part 2 – a surprise to me!

I ended the “Goal Setting” piece with the first question of the Westminster Catechism.  The question “What is the chief end of man?” summarized a goal priority to my mind.  Which now leads me to, “Why catechisms?’  I will not cover the history and purpose of catechisms here except to say that the question/answer format is a teaching tool.  For difficult foundational doctrines, new faith converts (or those seeking faith) easily learn important truths through the repeated question/answer process.  For that reason, catechisms are often used with children.

In my family, one of our young grandsons was learning by way of a catechism.  The toddler had been asked many times, “Who made you?”  Not being in a cooperative mood one night at dinner, he refused to answer the question.  His baby sister, sitting in the highchair next to him, seized the opportunity for success and attention, and peeped out, “God.”  Whoa, a homerun for this tiny one!!!  She knew.

Young children absorb and learn and know so much, much more than we realize.  I had a similar experience that I shared in a blog once before.  My own children were at a craft show and had the opportunity to shop for me.  They came out with a pair of yellow and orange tie dye socks and my son exclaimed that the bright socks would match the candy corn earrings I liked to wear in the fall.  How had he noticed?  Why had he remembered?  Kids are always watching and learning from their parents, grandparents, and others.

For our wedding ceremony, one of the Scriptures Craig and I chose was Deuteronomy 6 v 8 – 9:  “⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”  We were agreeing with God’s Word that everywhere and all the time we would constantly need His Truths in place to establish a home built on Jesus Christ.

Author: Brenda Proulx

Wife, mother and grandmother, educator and someone who thinks about the things I observe. I am the daughter of a writer; my dad's career was in the field of journalism. More significantly, I am God's child, a person believing in Jesus Christ and in His timeless Word. Blogging is new to me but I feel like I've always had a pen in my hand. I jot notes in my planner, mark papers, underline verses, write many letters, and occasionally draft articles for work or church. When I am not holding a pen, I am probably cuddling a mug of coffee. View all posts by Brenda Proulx