If we were asked what Avraham Avinu did that made him so loved by Hashem, what would we say? Perhaps it was his willingness to be thrown into the fiery furnace, or maybe it was that he passed all of his tests, or perhaps it was Akedat Yitzchak. Or maybe it was the thousands of people he brought to believe in Hashem.
Yet the Torah tells us something astonishing. Hashem says about Avraham, כִּי יְדַעְתִּיו לְמַעַן אֲשֶׁר יְצַוֶּה אֶת בָּנָיו וְאֶת בֵּיתוֹ אַחֲרָיו וְשָׁמְרוּ דֶּרֶךְ ה׳. Rashi explains the words כי ידעתיו as an expression of love. Hashem was saying that He loved Avraham because he taught his children and household to follow His ways.
Of all the great things Avraham accomplished, Hashem singled out the chinuch he gave his family.
We can see a small glimpse of Avraham's extraordinary chinuch from the Akedah. Avraham told Yitzchak that Hashem had commanded him to be brought as a korban. Yitzchak himself never heard this command from Hashem. He was hearing it only from his father, yet he willingly accepted it. It's difficult enough for parents to get their children to listen to them regarding ordinary matters. Here, Yitzchak was being asked to give up his very life, and he was willing to listen to his father without questioning him.
Furthermore, when it came time to find a wife for Yitzchak, Avraham made Eliezer swear to follow his instructions. Avraham understood how important it was for Yitzchak to find the right wife.
There is a very big lesson we can learn from here.
A mother may spend her days taking care of her children, teaching them Torah and mitzvot, berachot, encouraging them to pray, and helping them develop good middot. Sometimes she may feel that she could be accomplishing so much more if she were out in the world doing something for Klal Yisrael, perhaps running a school or inspiring large groups of people.
But here we see that although Avraham was bringing thousands of people closer to Hashem, when Hashem tells us what made Avraham so beloved to Him, He points to the chinuch he gave his own family.
A mother raising her children to be ovdei Hashem is accomplishing something so precious. She's raising the next generation of Klal Yisrael. Every berachah she teaches them, every time she encourages a child to do a mitzvah, every time she explains what Hashem wants from us, she's doing a tremendous avodah.
Chinuch requires a lot of love, patience, warmth, and understanding. We want our children to develop a true desire to serve Hashem, and that takes effort around the clock. Most of the time, nobody sees how much work we put into our children. But Hashem sees everything, and He's telling us how special it is to Him.
There's another lesson we learn from here. Even Avraham, who was such an extraordinary mechanech, had a son like Yishmael. Yishmael went in a different direction despite the chinuch he received.
Even the greatest mechanchim cannot guarantee the results of their efforts. Parents are responsible for teaching, guiding, loving, setting the right example for their children, and, of course, praying for them day and night. But ultimately the results are not in the parents' hands.
A parent whose child is struggling should never think that all those years of effort were wasted. Hashem values every effort we put in.
The Gemara in Baba Batra tells us that ultimately, Yishmael made teshuvah during Avraham's lifetime. Avraham was zocheh to see Yishmael return to the proper path.
Sometimes parents plant seeds that don't seem to be growing, but those seeds may still be there, waiting for the right time to blossom.
Every parent working to raise their children in the ways of Hashem should appreciate the greatness of what they're doing. We may not see immediate results, and we may not receive any recognition for it, but we're performing a tremendous avodah — an avodah that Hashem singled out as the reason Avraham Avinu was so beloved in His eyes.