“Most parents can’t give their children a lavish inheritance, but every parent will leave a personal legacy.”
With the excess that surrounds most of us, a lot of families get sidetracked from what really matters. We become so preoccupied with giving kids an inheritance that we forget the significance of leaving a legacy. Sometimes I just have to be reminded that what I give to my children or what I do for my children is not as important as what I leave in them. Isn’t it interesting how “stuff” can distract us from what is really valuable?
Too often, parents believe the end goal is to make their kids happy. There are moments when I will buy anything, do anything, and go anywhere if it will just make my kids happy.
Whenever we define a child’s happiness as our ultimate goal, we settle for something far less significant than what God has designed for them or what He has designed them for.
I learned to lean on a principle we refer to as “imagine the end.” The fog usually begins to lift when I mentally fast-forward to the final chapter of my children’s lives and ask a pointed question:
Who do I really want them to become?
I know that in the middle of that answer is an understanding of who God is. Then I imagine the end and remember that God is writing His narrative.
When it comes to my children, the most difficult thing I have ever done is to admit my limited capacity and trust God to show up and do what only He can do. Some days I just need to be reminded that my family is a part of a bigger picture and that God desires to demonstrate His redemptive power through us.”
This is an excerpt from Parenting Beyond Your Capacity written by Reggie Joiner and Carey Nieuwhof
