Your Children: Accessory or Priority?

IMG_2805I’m a minimalist! I like nice things, the add ons, the extra’s the buy 2 get one free deals. I like the idea of having the things that go with other things. I like the idea of filling my home with those little extra bits that make each room unique and stand out amongst the others. Don’t get me wrong, I like accessories.

I think I just don’t like them enough to put the effort into really making sure that everything that needs to match, does. I’m not wired that way but I have no problem with people who find the worlds greatest sugar rush in accessorizing every area of their life to the hilt, and if you are that person, Awesome, I pray you come across the worlds biggest accessory sale and receive all sorts of discounts and vouchers, GO FOR IT!

Where I do come a little unstuck is where, at least on the surface, parents act as if their kids have just completed their “oh so” precious checklist of world’s-most-sought-after-accessories. For me, and mainly because I meet and have met with many children who have fallen prey to the “Checklist”, there appears to be a growing idea that children, although important, tend to fall into a large bucket of important stuff, rather than existing in their own bucket labelled “Priority”.

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Regretless

We’ve all heard how no one sits on their death-bed wishing they’d spent more time at the office, landed a bigger deal, spent more time on their own, watching sports, being upset, being angry, just being. Everyone will agree regardless of their faith, that they would expect someone to wish they had spent more time with the ones they loved and loved them.

What a year, some epic down points but also some magnificent highlights. We lost a baby, but we have been blessed with watching our son grow and grow. From new words, to personality developments, to potty training and big boy beds. My beautiful wife is still my best friend and importantly my favourite person. Jesus is still my Lord and Saviour and continues to blow us away with His grace and favour. What a God!

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Missing you

Yesterday as I was taking part in my weekly ritual of Saturday afternoon sport, I felt God lay a sentence on my heart. His nudging urged me to come home early and see my own son.

The sentence was “I am missing you”. I believe God was announcing His position and our next move. Our Father is always present, with arms wide open waiting for us to take up our prodigal son calling and run back into his arms.

God is, always has been and always will be waiting for us to realize His love for us. He longs for us to lay down our busy lives at the alter of what truly matters. We complicate, we necessitate and then package, in triplicate, plans and ‘to do lists’ of things that only end up accomplishing one thing, rendering us too busy!

To busy for what? To busy to realize that we miss Him too.

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