Katie Goes to Kindergarten
Tim called me, as he often does, to give me updates on his life in Alaska. ”Hey, Dad, just wanted you to know that Katie went to her first day of school today.” Tim and Nik drove Katie the two miles to the elementary school, and they parked at the curb, and they let her out of the car. She walked tentatively at first, then happily ran to the school building, racing off to meet new friends, … and a milestone passed ever so unnoticeably for Tim and Nik.
Katie had taken her first steps away from her parents, into a world waiting to receive her, into a world that would be affected by her over the next several years. They had raised her and had prepared her for this day, and there will be many more days like these in her future. (… like high school graduation and marriage, to name a few)
The object of good parenting is to raise a child from helplessness to independence. A good parent gives their child the “tools” necessary to handle life’s difficulties, the workaday world of one’s fellowmen, and, ultimately, for the journey beyond this life, into that eternal life prepared by God, our Creator.
Our present life is always a preparation for a life yet to come. Life is never static, yet certain things in life do not change, regardless of man’s discoveries and technological advances.
Man is designed to be in relationship. (Gen. 1:18)
Man has a job, a service to render to his society. (Gen. 2:15)
Man is designed to reflect the loving heart of God. (I Jn. 4:7 – 8)
Man does not live forever on Earth. (Heb. 9:27) His job is to make it home to God Who made him. (Ecc. 12:13) God has planted eternal longings in man’s heart. (Ecc. 3:11)
As parents prepare their children for the obvious life at hand, it is just as necessary to prepare them for the life that is in the future, the distant future, say 10,000 years from now, if the Earth should exist that long. There is no question that humans will outlive their planet; it will just be in another form. Though we humans inhabit temporary physical life forms, we are spiritual, eternal beings within and forever! (II Cor. 5:1 – 5)
In a few, short sentences, I spanned 28 years, as I reminded Tim of his first day in school, when he boarded the bus in our Minnesota neighborhood, and of the feelings we had.
May Tim and I as Dads and may Nikki and Cheryl, and all Moms, never lose that long-term view of life!
May God be glorified with our lives!
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