If your family is anything like ours then your summer was filled with adventure. Without school to "get in the way" of things my boys spent their summer going non-stop. To use the word busy, would be an understatement; trips to the zoo, the children's museum, weekly pool parties and a few overnight stays at grandma and grandpa's consumed their free-time this summer.
That doesn't even include all the crafts, messy days, VBS and what we like to refer to as the "best four days of the year".
It was a great summer but if I'm honest, we are exhausted. Maybe it's our own fault for thinking of summer as a break from all the business but in an effort to make sure our kids had fun and made memories we managed to stay busier than the rest of the year.
I think this is one of the dangers that we as parents deal with in today’s context and culture: we often run the risk of becoming relationally and spiritually poor in the pursuit of becoming experientially rich. We want to make sure our kids have all the things, get to see all the things, and get to be all the things so badly that we forget that some things are more important than others.
Sure we walk away with an awesome photo album that people might be envious of, but while we chased these experiences have we helped our kids learn how to live a better life or have we just confused them about what the better life really looks like?
Proverbs 22:6 says, “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”
If we take this wisdom and apply it to our lives it would suggest that right now as our children are young and are in their adolescence we have the ability to shape their future. We can influence them and encourage them to pick a path for their lives moving forward.
So I have to wonder if what we do now in the lives of our children matters so much, we have to ask ourselves the question, "Which path are we pointing them down?" Are we pointing them down a path to the best life possible or are we pointing down a path that will always leave them chasing the next adventure to try and satisfy them?
The ancient scriptures are clear that parents are the greatest influence in the life of a child. Even with all the other factors and influences, what you do as a parent matters more to the life of a child than anything else. There are times when I know I have wished it wasn’t that way – times where I wished that someone else could pour in and shape my child’s future. But the truth is God chose you to disciple and direct your child. It is your greatest calling and your life’s greatest work.
As parents, if our influence is that great we must make sure that the path we are putting our children on is the path that leads to God and the path to the best life possible. We must make sure that we are pouring into their relational and spiritual development and not just trying to be their personal vacation tour guide. "Start a child in the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it". You are their greatest influence - make sure you are helping them find their way so they will always know who and where they can turn.
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