Spring is here! The work of sowing and planting is nearly finished. When the sun shines, when rain and hose bring water, seeds will sprout, plants will grow, and another garden of beauty will have been born.

If it’s our first garden, a few weeks later, reality will hit: birthing was only the beginning of creating a garden. Soon enough, it’s time for more watering; occasional hoeing, weeding and fertilizing; keeping it safe or training plants to stand tall. We watch for buds, anticipate blossoms and, perhaps, the ripening of healthful fruits and vegetables.

It’s the same when a child is born. You hold the child in your arms, enjoy, admire, celebrate and feed, living only in that blissful moment. But reality eventually sets in. The responsibilities of caring for, teaching and training a child 24-7 quickly take priority.

You provide an atmosphere conducive to physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual growth: like healthful food, clean air, safety measures, preventive medicine, learning, wholesome friends and family, character-building stories, quiet times, sensing God in creation, or knowing God’s story in the Bible, making sure your child sees the fruits of the Spirit alive and well in your life.

It’s an awesome honor and privilege, a huge responsibility. Will your child become an adult with a heart so full of God’s Word that he/she will filter choices through God’s Truth?

Your child is a seed planted in your family, like the flower in your garden. The flower needs sun light, and your child needs the light of God’s Son. Here are a few ideas for planting God’s promises in your child’s heart:

1. Do daily 2-minute bursts of Bible memory (from A to Z?). You lead, with your child joining in as much as possible. Say, for example, “A. A friend loves at all times.” “B. Be kind to one another.” “C. Create in me a clean heart, O God.” Begin with one text and gradually add another as your child begins to recite each text.

2. Make a colorful flash card of each text. You could also include an illustration. 3. Hold the card up as you recite a text and move on to the next—not too fast, not too slow.

4. Display the texts and illustrations in places where you will both see them, be able to practice saying them and talk about what they mean—like near the kitchen table or bathroom sink, on bulletin boards, next to your child’s bed, or where you pray.

Each time you repeat a text, your child retains more and will be more able to claim God’s Truth at a moment’s notice. Arm your child for life’s battles. Train your child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.  (Proverbs 22:6)