Children need truth. It’s so easy for us as parents to underestimate the significance of what we’re doing. When you’re reading a bedtime story from the Bible to your child or kneeling beside her to pray, you are teaching her the truth of God’s Word. When you’re reading classics, such as Pilgrim’s Progress or The Chronicles of Narnia, you are sharing stories that teach moral guidance.

When I was 11 years old, I didn’t make the all-star team. It was the most crushing blow in my entire life at that time. My mother sat down with me on my bed, patted my back and told me the account of Joseph in the Bible. She shared with me how Joseph persevered through tough times and how God eventually promoted him. I carried that with me as a source of comfort and encouragement — and I was barely out of elementary school.

Never underestimate your role as a parent and the truth you share with your children, whether through Bible accounts, personal stories or, most important, the life you live according to the standards laid out in God’s Word.

— Rev. Tommy Nelson