There is an old saying that “the best predictor of the future is the past”. We are approaching the anniversary of what we might consider the beginning of a series of events that have affected us and our children in ways we could not see coming. The mandate to shut down schools and businesses came to us in March of 2020. It is very humbling and sometimes surreal to be out and about in America with everyone wearing face masks. It just doesn’t seem right. Our past has been rewritten over the past 12 months on many levels; social, educational, political, etc., so what does this say about the future?
As I reflect back on the burden that I believe was given me by the Lord to encourage parents, I am humbled that the Lord has provided a place for these articles for going on eleven years. Your comments over the years on the timeliness of the content points to our Heavenly Father who is still on His Throne, Who still chooses to be involved in the lives of His children, and Whom none of the events of the past 12 months surprised or snuck up on Him.
Parents are equipped by God to fulfill their role as parents and to receive His Wisdom and instruction no matter what our circumstances and as we face an uncertain future. God is faithful and He equips parents to be faithful in carrying out their responsibilities. We don’t give up, we stay in the race and we persevere.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”
Hebrews 12:1 (NLT)
You will look back one day on this season of your life and it will seem to have gone so fast. Don’t make the mistake of living in the future. God intends for us to live today; it is a gift, which is why it is called the present. At that future time when you reflect on the past, you want to say as Paul did to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.” Faithful to the task at hand — Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV): “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.”
If we raise our children as Christ would have us, they receive a double blessing. They have the gift of a god-fearing home and the blessings of God upon their lives. Every parent shares the “burden” of parenting. Burden in this sense is not a “bad” thing, but it is a “heavy” thing. A burden is an “awesome responsibility” laid upon us. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV):
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
As parents we are best served by going to the One Who made us, Who knows us, and Who knows the hearts of our children. It is through Him and Him alone that we are equipped to be the best parent we can be. Open the Bible and take your family to church. We are a better parent when we have the attitude that we are a student to parenting or better said “parent in training”.
