I recently returned from a brief trip to Boston with my husband Andy. While there we went to the Aquarium and were waiting for the doors to open to the Imax film we were going to see when we observed a family come in. It was a father, a mother, a son, and a daughter. The son appeared to be about 15 and the daughter about 7. What struck me was that the father, in the ten minutes or so we were waiting, did not say one kind thing to his family.  At all. And it bothered me. The mother asked how long it would take to get through the aquarium. The father responded, "Depends on how much you want to read. If you're Adam (referring to his son), it won't take you long because you don't read anything, except texts."  And the contempt he treated his son with broke my heart. He kept crabbing at his daughter as well...she was just acting like a typical kid of that age and he threatened to make her stay the rest of the day in their hotel room if she didn't stop. I was wondering why he'd even bothered to come along when it seemed like he didn't want to be there. The mother was much more pleasant and seemed to be enjoying herself, but I wonder why she let him talk to their kids that way.

Had to bite my lip several times. I figured it wasn't any of my business, and I would just make things worse for those kids if I said anything. It just made me sad because the kids seemed to accept the father's humorlessness and obvious anger as normal. Surely this isn't right! The Bible tells us that:

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him. Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior's hands. How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates. (Psalm 127:2-5)

Because children are a gift from God, it behooves us to be careful with how we raise them and how we treat them.

You children must always obey your parents, for this is what pleases the Lord. Fathers, don't aggravate your children. If you do, they will become discouraged and quit trying. (Colossians 3:20-21)

This experience made me wonder if the family has a church that they attend, if they had ever heard the gospel. Something told me probably not. This is the result when people stop attending church, stop reading and applying the Word, and stop listening for God's voice: you get broken, bitter families.