Parenting Through Proverbs

Message Title: The Coaching Years - And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street

It has been 79 years since Dr. Seuss’ first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was published. The book had been rejected by the 27 publishers that Theodor Seuss Geisel (Seuss’ real name) sent it to. But one day, Geisel bumped into a friend who had just become a children’s book editor at a publishing house. He told his friend that he’d given up and planned to destroy the book, but the editor asked to see it. Geisel later said if he had been walking down the other side of the street, he probably would never have become a children’s author.

Like Dr. Seuss, have you ever been in the right place at the right time? Have you ever felt rejected or thought the answer to something was no, just to find out that it was yes?

Read Proverbs 13:4, 18; 16:32; and 25:28. What is the common thought throughout these
verses?

Read Psalm 19:1-4 and Romans 1:20. How do the heavens pour forth speech without words?
How does creation point us to God?

Pastor Hugh read parts of Romans 1:18-23 from The Message paraphrase: “… the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see:
eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life.”

Was there a time when you were not treating God like God and lacked direction? How can you use this understanding to help you to coach your kids to see reality in the truth of God?

We encounter reality through God-ordained opportunity. Like Dr. Seuss, God puts us on the
right side of the street, so to speak. He gives us the opportunity to see reality through creation,
through His Word, and through the Holy Spirit’s guidance. He reveals His truth to us through
truth, so that we can say Yes to God and no to self-indulgence. If you are a parent, how can
you help your child to be aware of God’s reality? Whether you are a parent or not, how are you
becoming more aware of God’s reality?

If you are the parent of a teenager, you get to work with God in encouraging his children to
not indulge in self-doubt. You can encourage them to resist self-indulgence and exercise selfrestraint. How do you encourage your children to become the people God has created them
to be?

(If you do not have kids/teenagers, do you feel God encouraging you? Do you know that He is
your biggest cheerleader? Is there something going on in your life where you need
encouragement? We are here to encourage one another on our God-journeys as well!)

We establish credibility through honesty. Just as the boy’s view of Mulberry Street was full of
possibility, he had to be honest and tell his dad what he really saw; not what he felt or
imagined, but what was really real. How do you encourage your kids to be honest and live
lives of integrity? How hard is it for you to get really real with others in your life?

We are deceived into believing that self-indulgence leads to freedom. It is difficult to show
kids the truth that practicing self-restraint is what leads to freedom, but sometimes that is
because we don’t necessarily believe it ourselves; we are being self-indulgent in some area in
which God has asked us to practice self-restraint.