[From the archives]
I know you’re feeling it too – that the world has gone all kinds of crazy.
We’re beating back the flames and the fears and the unknowns, worrying there’ll be nothing left for those coming after us and we need to keep on telling each other some truth:
Truth #1
When all’s well, it’s easy to picture a glowing future. But when local and global news reads like a horror show, we awfulize the future.
Truth is, we never know what the future holds – for us, our kids or the world – no matter how happy or horrific our circumstances today.
That’s not fatalistic; it just frees us from trying to control everything.
Truth #2
Pray for your kids while you grate cheese and wait for attachments to upload and traffic lights to change and call centre operators to answer. Pray for your kids on sleepless nights and stressful Mondays and ordinary Friday afternoons and rainy Tuesdays and all the days ending in –y and why?
Because Oswald Chambers nailed it:
‘Prayer does not equip us for greater works – prayer is the greater work.’
Truth #3
God promises to give wisdom to those who ask.
Ask God for wisdom and insight now so that you and your kids are as well prepared as possible for the unseeable, unknowable then.
Ask God for financial, relational and educational wisdom. Ask Him for wisdom to know how to encourage your kids when they’re overwhelmed by the fears they carry in their own supple, stretching hearts.
Truth #4
The Optimism Bias is a real thing and gratitude makes you live longer and happier.
Thank God for scary out-there headlines and scarier right-here realities that bring things into the light because the truth will out and in Him there is no darkness at all.
Thank God that we can have more faith in His ability to lead, than in our ability to follow.
Thank God that nothing has thrown off His plan for us, or our kids.
Truth #5
Jesus says to us, ‘Let’s lose your life, and go save so many.’ He says that to our kids too. They have unique callings, just like their parents.
He summons each new generation from the beginning of time. We’re called for such a time as this. Our kids are called for the time that’s coming, and God is already there.
He will lend them all the brave they’ll need to live their adventures well.
Truth #6
God brings life and hope in places we wouldn’t plan for it to emerge if we were running the universe. We seldom imagine how He means to increase the praise due to His Name through our lives and our kids’ lives.
His plans are bigger, higher, different. We think we know what’s in the best interests of our kids. He actually knows what’s in the best interests of our kids.
Truth #7
As parents, we can make life mediocre or we can make it matter. Stay curious, open and grounded. Ask and listen. Read and think. Get on your game face. The little people are watching us.
Truth #8
You want your kids to maximize their potential. So does the God who put it inside them. He sees their potential in all its latent glory, and He has plans for it. You can trust Him with stuff that He actually created.
Truth #9
My friend Lisa-Jo reckons that kids tend to follow their mom. If their mom is following Jesus, they get in line. They follow her following Him.
Truth #10
Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; He will neither fail you nor abandon you. Deuteronomy 31:8
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Happy weekend, friend!
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Dalene Reyburn 