Jul

14

Encourage the Future You Want

Post Category: Blog Posts, Family, Makes You Think 

If you’re like me you find that it’s easy to be crippled by the fear of what could be. I’m the father of two young girls who are going to grow up in a world that has far too much pain and hurt than I would like. I know that there is a very distinct possibility that they will have their hearts broken and their dreams shattered.

They will be the recipients of hurtful words and accusing glances.
They will be made fun of, laughed at and ridiculed.
Their peers will pressure them to do things that they know is wrong, and they will sometimes give in.
They will make wrong choices that I wish I could prevent.
They will see things that I wish I could erase from their memories.
They will hear things I wish they wouldn’t hear.

And yes, there is a chance that they will walk away from God and break my heart. I look into their sweet, innocent eyes right now and I know that we haven’t even come close to the most difficult challenges of being a parent.

But every day I pray that God gives me the grace to live, not from the fear of what could be, but from the hope that there is someone who loves them even more than I do and he has plans on their lives for greatness.

Call me naive if you like - my oldest is 6 and I�am after all in the stage where the worst arguments we have are over her bed time - but I hope that I can be the kind of parent that encourages the character traits I want to see in my kids rather than over-protecting and always living in fear of how they might turn out.

I’ve got a few years yet before my kids hit the teen years and my principles are put to the test so check back with me in 8-10 years to see how I’m doing. :-)

“We have to encourage the future we want rather than trying to prevent the future we fear.” - Bill Joy, Founder and Former Chief Scientist of Sun Microsystems

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  1. Pat Rowland on July 18th, 2007 1:17 pm

    I wanted to let you know of a book that I am reading right now that is probably the best Parenting Book I have ever read. I think it is a must read for every young parent, Revolutionary Parenting by George Barna. I have already gone through one highlighter and I’m not even half way through the book. After reading your post I think you & Lisa would really enjoy it.

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