Today I've read that without direction or aim, an empty life is unstable and vulnerable to many temptations.
So here we go. As a parent we start asking early on, what do you want to be? We push chemistry sets, doctor sets, and even race cars in front of our children hoping that one of these occupations will sink into their heads and one decision will be lifted off our shoulders.
They go through elementary and middle school never picking up the challenge of what will they be? Soon high school is in their midst and ACTs, SATs and higher learning is around the corner. Here's where it gets tough.
They start their high school years and they're eager to fit in. They start talking like the others, dressing and modeling the "cool" kids. Losing the precious person they WERE and still ARE.
When you tell them about how their grades matter and to keep them up, they say "I know Mom". Soon their junior year is upon them and you really start to feel the pressure. Do you have plans for after school? Um, I don't know yet. Still considering my options. Maybe I'll get a job and take off a year. Yeah, I've heard that before.
So they take off a year, working for $7 an hour flipping burgers, making coffee, or working in a bank. Where are they going? Nowhere. Because for now it works. They are living in the now and not looking down the road. The car has gas, tires and heat (AC in the summer). What more is there?
When you attend high school graduation, everyone is excited to be out of school. You ask a couple of friends, what are you going to do now? Response: Oh, I think I'll do my generals and see. Oh, I'm going to take off a year. Or the best one is: I don't know!
So here we have a valued life with no direction and goal. How then can he/she get to where they are going? Where God wants them to go so they can fulfill the purpose God has for them? We are told that when we are doing God's will, we will be blessed. So, to my dislike, there's a lot of people out there NOT doing God's will.
The empty life is unstable. Why aren't we filling our children's lives with love, laughter, memories, roots and most of all a secure hold of God, who he is and what he is in their life. By doing so, they would know the parental love of both a mom and a dad as well as their heavenly father. They would know that if ever they feel alone and nothing in 6th grade that their heavenly father loves them. When they are crying because their parents are getting divorced, that their heavenly father is walking with them through this and is crying also but still loves them.
That if mom or dad let them down in some way, that He is always there for them.
By giving them this solid footing they will always know where home is....they will be a complete and whole person, and will have that direction in life because they will know the Word and be secure in it.
By filling any void in their life, by ensuring that they feel loved, happy, secure and confident, they can make those tough decisions for their life and not become vulnerable to temptations.
May you have a blessed day and God brings you a wonderful surprise.
First, not everyone has the luxury of "going to college". As you well know your mother, nor you could afford for you to go to college and off you went to escape and also to earn a living. I would not call that "not having direction, I would call it, taking a different path. While I understand and agree with the message and the heart of the message. I take exception with the examples. I had no choice but to work. I did not have the luxury to "take a year off", or to work for $5/hr during my summer breaks from campus living. No one was paying for my food if that paycheck did not come on Friday. I wish that I could have gone on to be what I wanted to be....BUT think of it this way...Is that what GOD wanted me to be? You and I both know I wanted to be a lawyer so bad I could taste it. I was going to OCU if I recall right, because that is where Grandpa Horn went. I was going to be a big rich fancy lawyer and buy you 7 Cadilacs......Turns out, GOD wanted me to be a mommy, he wanted you to have a Tahoe full of gas and ANTS (by the way). He wanted you to be a "Gammie", he knew that if I was a lawyer, I would be too busy for Tucker and Ben, and they would be unhappy and neglected, or not here at all....NOW I ask you which the worst part is? I would give up law school, the bar, and money every day of the week and twice on Sundays to look into the eyes of those giggles, and to hear "I love you too Mommy, sing Jesus again" just one more time.
ReplyDeleteSo yeah, I wanted to be a Lawyer, and you probably wanted me to be one too, but thankfully, that was not what GOD wanted me to be. He wanted me to be a mommy with time.....and with prayer more patience.