Lofty Task

Do realizations ever just dawn on you out of the blue?  I mean, I was just sitting in the chair in our daughter's room watching her toddle back and forth between rooms in her high water pj's and this thought occurred to me - "She's my responsibility!"

I don't mean I realized that it's my job to make sure that she's eats healthy food or wears cute clothes or has a place to sleep - of course, that's my responsibility.

I'm not even referring to the fact that it's my job to make sure that she does well in school or gets a great job or marries the right guy - yes, all of those things I will do.  Yes, all of those things I take very seriously!

But, to be honest, there's one thing that I was strongly reminded of this morning that Beth and I MUST do as parents.

"Train up a child in the way (s)he should go; even when (s)he is old, (s)he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6

She could be malnourished, naked, sleeping on the street, uneducated, unemployed, and married to some dirtbag - but whether or not we accomplish this one thing will determine our success in raising her.  Whether or not we do this one thing will paint a clearer picture of our priorities in life than anything else we could ever do or say.

It was like an explosion went off in my head!  I always knew that I had this responsibility, but the reminder was incredibly poignant today.

It's our job to raise her up in the Lord, to teach her through the example of our lives and the words of our mouths what God's love means and how it affects our lives - how we will never be the same now that we know it, and how we couldn't be who we are without it!

It's our job to show her what the Gospel is and to lead her to the cross!

It's our job to disciple her once she's found Jesus and help her grow in that most intimate of relationships!

The bad news is - we can't do it in our own strength.  We can never do or say the right thing to accomplish this task.  The good news is - we have faith in our Father, our Lord, our Savior that He will grant us the strength and grace and love and patience to do it all!  Will we make mistakes?  Undoubtedly so.  But the picture of our daughter at the end of our lives will reflect who we are and how we invested our time.

A picture really does paint a thousand words...