Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Tanya Wilmuth.

When our oldest, Braden, was in first grade, his teacher gave out in the year awards at an all-school assembly.

The kids just picture them.

They were all lined up in front of the field elementary gym in alphabetical order,

and she went down the row handing out certificates. Well, of course, our name starts with a W.

After every child had received an award, she began announcing a few extra ones, things like

Math Star and Reading Star. Only a

handful of kids received these bonus awards. Braden, being at the end of the alphabet, was the last one to

get a second award. When the teacher called his name, he did one of those little fist pumps,

like, yeah, I'm a winner.

We have made fun of him for that moment for the last 16 years until last week when he flipped it on us and said, you guys are entirely responsible for that. And honestly, he's right.

Because we were doing our own invisible fist pump. Look at us. Our first

grader is a geography star. We must be awesome parents. He's also right in another way. We have passed

down a culture of competition and achievement to our kids. We talk about it, we practice it, we value it,

we reward it, we get jealous when other people do better than we do. Achievement matters to both

Eric and me, and our kids have picked up on that, for better or for worse. But it made me stop

and ask, what about faith?

Do we talk about it?

Do we practice it?

Do we value it?

Do we actively shepherd it in our home?

...