Day 249: Ezekiel 17-18; Psalm 78

As a parent and grandparent, there are moments that You make me keenly aware of my influence over my 'first parish' (my family). While I know that my eating sour grapes will not set my children's teeth on edge (Ezekiel 18:2 - everyone is judged for their own sin), I just want to avoid eating those grapes. For while You are right and just, Father, You still designed the family to have influence from one generation to the next. Help me be a godly husband, a Christ-centered dad, a Spirit-filled influence in my grandchildren's lives. May nothing in me be a hindrance to their walk with Jesus and may everything in me point to how Jesus lived. I am so aware that I cannot do this on my own, so by the power of the Holy Spirit, help me to abide moment-by-moment in Jesus, the Vine (John 15:5). May the fruit of my remaining in Him be sweet to my first parish and to all who encounter me. This I ask in His Name and for His sake. Amen.