Parents are exhausted these days. Life is busy. Let me share with you an experience I had when our kids were younger…
I had been moaning about how busy things were. My job. The new baby. Soccer, softball, and baseball practices and games. School stuff. Yard work. And on and on. But God was clear. These are the best of times. I have blessed you with another miracle. Your children are at an age when they want to be with you and want you involved in their lives. Too soon these will all be memories. Enjoy it while you can!” Then He spoke in a letter of encouragement and recollections from my mother. “Believe me,” she wrote. “I remember the pee wee ball games of [yours]. At the time they were time consuming, but now I have so many good memories. [It was] also nice because I had dad here to share all of good times. Time goes by so fast, enjoy all these times.”
Don’t waste time on temporal stuff. How much time do we spend on things that don’t count’? How much energy do we spend piling up straw that one future day will not survive the final evaluation (1 Corinthians 3: 10-I 5). Life is about eternal things. The present is about the future. We must live each day knowing that an account will be given to God.
Don’t sacrifice the future for a moment of pseudo-pleasure. I have seen too many fall to sexual temptation to make the mistake of saying, “It could never happen to me!” That day God reminded me just how much I have to lose. The love, respect, and trust of those I love the most could be shattered in a moment. The beautiful love of a beautiful wife; the hugs and kisses and respect of four gifts of God, the fun of wrestling on the living room floor; laughter at the dinner table; nicknames for each have sworn to card board games: “party nights” by the fireplace with popcorn and videos—-just being with those I love the most could be lost in a moment of irrational disobedience that I am protected from only by the grace of God.
May God continue to use all the things that make up life to remind to stand firm in His grace.
You and I will no doubt cry the tears that parents cry as our children grow. But by His grace we can enjoy these busy days; invest in things that count for eternity: and be a part of our children’s futures instead of living alone some day in the desert land of remorse and regret.