I started the book a few days ago thinking it would be a quick, light read... something to aid me in a temporary fantastical escape into someone else's life... but instead I stumbled onto an idea that has been haunting me.
A little back story to catch you up to speed :)
The lead character in this book is a 40ish year-old homicide detective and he's a very busy man... he's also a father of three children. But he's gone from home more often than not. To help raise his kids after his wife dies tragically after his youngest son was born, his grandmother moves in and assumes the role of mom and housekeeper. This particular book finds the lead character questioning whether or not his job is more important than his family... wrestling with the fact that his kids are growing up, and he's missing it.
To illustrate how precious time with his family is, his grandmother gives him two jars full of marbles. She explains to him that each marble in those jars represents either a past or future Saturday in his life. One jar holds the Saturdays that have already gone by and that can never be taken back... the other holds the Saturdays that are still available to him and full of potential. She then reaches into the jar of Saturdays with potential, picks one marble, hands it to him, and says, "How are you going to spend this marble?"
This simple illustration is certainly not new... in fact I'm pretty sure I've heard it before somewhere else, but maybe because I've been doing a lot of thinking about parents and our roles, it hit me pretty hard.
As I was reflecting on the implications of how many Saturdays I have left with my children, the illustration took on a whole new dimension.
Consider this sobering thought for a moment... how many more DAYS do you have left to directly influence your children in the ways of Jesus before they leave home?
My daughter is 11 years old.
She will be 18 in 7 years.
If I take the number of years before Madison leaves home and multiply that by 365, I will get the number of days I have left with her to directly influence her while living at home.
It looks like this:
7 * 365 = 2555 directly influential days left
Now that number may not look too small... but think about this: each and every day that number is getting smaller. And as each day passes so does that precious time that we can never get back.
So, what are we to do with this number?
I'll tell you what I'm going to do... I'm going to begin to think of how I spend my time more intentionally.
How many hours do I waste sitting at my computer while my children are asking to play a game? How many times so I choose to watch a baseball game instead of reading to my children? How many times do I think that a couple of extra hours at work won't hurt when my children haven't seen me all day? How many times do I shoo my kids away while I'm trying to work on something that has no real meaning?
Too many times.
Instead of missing opportunities of sharing God Moments with my children, I will begin to intentionally look for those moments and seize them! I am going to choose to say "yes" when my kids ask me to play with them because they are more important. I am not going to say, "I'm too busy" when a teachable life lesson presents itself, instead I will make a conscience effort to teach my children in everything that I say and do... because in reality, through my actions and non-actions, my interactions and non-interactions I am teaching them whether I know it or not.
Moms and Dads... let's be honest, the time we have with our children is ticking away. We often get caught up in the insulating thoughts and feelings of the moment and forget to step back and see the big picture. We don't have a lot of time to directly influence our children. And with each passing day another marble moves from one jar to the other, never to be retrieved again.
So here... here's today's marble.
How are you going to spend it?
How many marbles do you have left to directly influence your children and show them how important they are to you?
On the journey with you,
Pastor Beau
PS: Take a look at my friend, Emmaus Church Pastor Nathan Oates' blog and his wonderfully insightful thoughts on how important time spent with our children can be.
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