Wow, is it really the second week of October already? We have been so busy, I sometimes wonder what on earth we would do if we both worked full time and how people do it when they DO work full time. It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day and not stop and think about what it is we can do minute by minute to change our lives, to change the lives of our children for the better.
One thing I try to do is to be the best person I can be, which I fully believe is one of the best things we can do for our kids. Granted, I fail miserably at this most days, but I am still forever trying. In September this involved trying to do the most I could do with my writing. Just knowing that I am doing some type of work toward obtaining a major life goal hopefully sets a good example for our kids. That being said, "Auntie Silly and the Crazy Cousins Day Parade" is now in pre-production at a publishing house in Maryland....YAHOO! And, I finished my first novel EVER! There is no promise that it will be published, only a lot of prayers, but still, I proved that I could do it, and have now started another one.
At the end of September, beginning of October, we went to South Carolina to watch our dear nephew graduate from boot camp. He is like a son to us, and there have been many times where I wished he was ours. I know boot camp must be so tough, and he has had a very difficult life. I was so afraid he wouldn't make it. Not only did he make it...he went to church. Yes, big deal right? He doesn't believe in God. But he went to church, and he wrote me a letter to tell me all about it. I don't know what kind of seeds were planted, but he told me more about it when we saw him. I am so proud of our nephew, I can't imagine how proud I will be of our own children as they go through life and accomplish major things like that. And I wonder what advantages our children will have by already believing in God?
This was on my mind so much these past weeks as I thought of our lives and the example Rich and I set for the kids. I know we try, but do we try hard enough? As God would have it, last month, a friend of mine from high school, Jason O. sent me a message on Facebook saying he thought I should read a book called Visionary Parenting Capture a God Sized Vision For Your Family by Dr. Rob Rienow. I bought it right away, but have had little time to read since the pipes burst last month on the kids side of the barn and they have had to sleep in our room while we wait for the floors and bathroom to be redone (a whole other blog! but even headaches like that can be fun if you look at it the right way!). I had some extra time at the dentist yesterday, so I sat in the waiting room and opened to the new chapter I was beginning.
The chapter is called "A Thousand Generations" and I couldn't believe it when I started reading. There on the page in front of me lay the biblical foundation for all those thoughts I have been having this past month about our little family. What we do today can bless our children, their children, and so on. WOW!!!! As a parent, do we need anything more than that to want to be the best parent possible? It also works in the opposite way. As Dr. Rienow states on page 23, this works both ways. "We do not like to think about it, but there are times when we sow sinful choices into our lives and the results appear a generation later. OUR CHILDREN AND OUR GRANDCHILDREN ARE THE ONES WHO MAY EAT THE FRUIT." I don't know about you, but this both scares me too death and gives me unlimited hope and inspiration to be the best person I can be.
Dr. Rienow says, "Will you catch a vision for the fact that God has created you not just so you will impact your children, not just so you will impact your grandchildren, but so that your faith and your legacy will result in God showing love to a thousand generations of your descendants?" So, maybe no matter how busy we are today, this week, or this month, we can spend some time each day taking our minds off of ourselves and instead, thinking of how our actions this very minute will impact our family for generations to come, thinking about how our children see every single decision we make, good or bad, and more importantly, every decision we make gets planted somewhere for them to reap later......I don't know about anyone else, but this makes me want to seriously contemplate what kind of seeds I want to plant!
