As summer approaches, it gives each of us an opportunity to take a step back, evaluate, and use the time this season offers us to invest in the lives of our children and families. It is a dangerous trap to coast in parenting. Coasting means “moving easily without using power”. We must be hands on in teaching and training our children no matter their age. The summer offer us longer days and bedtimes aren’t quite as critical.
The blessings and responsibilities of parenting can be like a roller coaster ride. You don’t know when the falls or thrills are coming next.
12 “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Philippians 3:12-14 (NLT)
When Paul penned these words, he had a goal in mind. We all want to finish well in the marathon of raising children. Bonnie Ware, a palliative care nurse, says she “found that nearly all of her patients at the end of their life were more concerned with relationships they had built with others and being truly happy than they were with money, fame or success.” Be aware of the selfish trap of “me, myself and I” in the things that consume your time, talents and money. In her book Top 5 Regrets of the Dying, she said that the number two regret of her patients (predominantly her male patients) were “I wish I didn’t work so hard”. “Every male patient had this regret. They felt they had spent less quality time with their families — missing their children growing up, and not spending enough time with their wives.”
Investing time in the closest relationships God has given us does not happen by accident, it must be intentional. Maybe now, before the days get behind you, you and your family can pick a day of the week that is marked off for just family time. Once you commit to that and block your calendar, you let nothing interfere short of death or illness. This intentional effort will pay off. This may be the summer you will never forget, and that your children will talk about when they are adults. Don’t let technology consume them. It will fill their time if you do not.
‘Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”
Galatians 6:7-9
