Joey & Carla Link
October 28, 2026
We have all seen people who look older than their age, and their countenance can be discouraging, mean, or even uninviting. They are people we often think twice about interacting with. We have also seen people we would love to sit down and have a conversation with because they are so upbeat, happy, and encouraging.
You have to wonder why different people can have such different countenances. We would suggest it is by choice, just as wise Solomon said in Proverbs 17:22:
“A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
Just as adults have a choice to have a cheerful life or a crushed spirit that withers their life away under the worries and circumstances of life, your kids also have a choice in how they respond to their lives. They can choose to be happy, sad, or discouraged.
But parents can give their kids good medicine for both their spirit and their bones in two ways.
First, teach them to accept the things they cannot change about themselves. Their gender, body type, ethnicity, where they live, and even the family God placed them in are all things they did not choose. There may also be medical issues they have to deal with. If your kids don’t like any of these things about themselves or their circumstances, parents can give their kids good medicine by helping them talk through their feelings and encouraging them to accept how God made them and where He has placed them.
Helping your kids understand how much God loves them and the wonderful plan He has for their lives can encourage them and strengthen their spirit as well as their bones.
A second form of medicine parents can give their kids is a good home life. This includes Mom and Dad having a good relationship with each other, as well as training kids to be obedient to their parents and respectful toward siblings, peers, and other adults.
Parents should help their kids understand how to act and, more importantly, why they need to act the way they are being taught. Giving your kids an understanding of why you are training them the way you are will cheer their spirit and give them the purpose and reason they need to live the way you are teaching them to live.
Parents have a huge impact on the kind of attitude their kids will develop. While God gives your kids their temperament and personality, training them in the way they need to go, rather than simply allowing them to follow the way they are naturally going, is the parent’s job.
Which type of person is your child becoming, and what kind of “medicine” do you need to work on giving them so they can become who God wants them to be?
| ON SALE! |
| Using the Bible in the Instruction and Training of Your Children It’s becoming more important than ever to lay a solid, Biblical foundation for our kids. Going to Sunday School and Youth Group can be good tools in how to do that, but the most important foundation they get is at home. This Mom’s Notes presentation will help guide you as you lay the foundation with your kids. MP3PDF Use code BIBLE at checkout by11/1/26 for $1 off the MP3 & PDF |
Parenting Made Practical Podcast
#2 Reminders, Reminders – Why Am I Always Reminding My Kids?
Parents get frustrated when they follow their kids around reminding them over and over to get their stuff done. Learn how you can stop reminding your kids and get them to start thinking and remember for themselves.
Click the title or search Parenting Made Practical in your favorite podcast app to listen!