Know Your Numbers

By: StephanieFink

I love being a mom…usually.  (How’s that for honesty?)

Watching my kids grow up is funand frustrating.  Exciting andexcruciating.  Awesome andawful.  Sacred and scary.  
The first day of each new schoolyear brings the familiar, “Ya gotta know your bus number.  Don’t forget it.  That’s how you’ll get back home,okay?”  I showed them the billboardthey had to wear around their neck that said their name and bus number.  They nodded as if they were listeningto me.  They made it home.

In a cruel twist of fate, daysafter my husband and I serenaded our boys with, “8-6-7-5-3-0-9” from the 1982hit song Jenny, we determined it wastime they learn their home phone number. I’ll let you take one guess as to what they said their home phone numberwas.

You guessed correctly,“8-6-7-5-3-0-9”. 
This charming phase lasted for oh,only about six months. 

I love being a mom, usually,

I stepped up on my soap box anddeclared, “Kids, this is serious. Ya gotta know your numbers. It’s not funny.  What if youget lost?  Ya gotta know yournumber!”

With a prayer and the help of theTwinkle, Twinkle Little Star ditty,my kids now know their home phone number.

I love being a mom, usually.

It only took, what felt like,forever for them to learn their address. But they did.  Then wemoved.  And, we’re still inprocess. 

I love being a mom, usually.

“Know your numbers” has been animportant theme pressed into my children. Two summers ago, I knew they needed some new numbers.  These new numbers would also help them,when they needed help finding their way. The new numbers were Bible verses. 

That summer we (and I do meanwe) memorized eight scriptures.  Westarted with the most important one, John 3:16, “For God so loved the worldthat he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall notperish but have eternal life.”  Wemoved onto other ones like, “A friend loves at all times.” Proverbs 17:17

This past year, I’ve also startedto show them how, to not just know the numbers, but how to look them up in theBible.

Lysa TerKeurst wrote, “My goalshould never be to raise kids that make me look good.  My goal should be to raise kids who love God and spend theirlives making His goodness known in their corner of the world.”

In order to know God and makeGod known, my kids are going to need to know their numbers.  They’re going to need to know whatnumbers to call up when they’re scared or happy or lonely or sick or trying todeal with their parents.  I want mykids to be physically safe.  So Itaught them their home phone, the garage door key code and in time, they’llknow their home address again.  Ialso want my kids to be spiritually safe too.  And they’ll need to “know their numbers”. 

Have I mentioned lately that Ilove being a mom? 

What numbers do you want toteach your kids this summer?


Steph'swriting has appeared in Proverbs 31 Ministry, P31 Woman magazine.  Inher free time she can be found encouraging numerous MOPS group in thenorthern Virginia area on the "Colorful Art of Friendship - AllowingGod to Paint the Masterpieces" and MOPS leaders on "Being a BrightLight".
Steph can be found blogging at www.encouragedinheart.org or on Facebook at Stephanie Fink or on her Facebook page Encouraged in Heart - Stephanie Fink.  She loves big hair, big cups of coffee and big bear hugs.