Skip to main content

Time Flies

Time flies.  Cliché, I know.  But it’s a phrase that perhaps we’re all guilty of tossing around without really considering the truth behind it.  Maybe this isn’t necessarily the case for kids.  You see, my husband and I have planned to take our 3-year old to see “Monsters University” this Saturday.  For Oliver, time is creeping by.  Saturday seems like an eternity away from today.  Today is Friday.  My, how perspective changes with age!

The point is, whether we like it or not, time does, in fact pass…and usually, rather quickly.  If we’re not careful, it has a tendency to slip away from us until we have none left.  Humans, by nature, are typically procrastinators, right?  This is why I’m writing today.  My husband and I have recently been given an incredible reminder of this school of thought.  More than likely, you need a reminder too.

This past April, we attended the Orange Conference in Atlanta, GA (check it out: Click Here).  We’ve been several times, and it’s always amazing.  This year, the theme was “Focus.”  Here was the bottom line to everything that was communicated at the conference: When you see how much time you have left, you tend to do more with the time you have now.  The problem is, none of us really know how much time we have left.  And it’s difficult to even visualize how much time we think we might have.

So the simple, yet powerful, visual that was given at the conference was marbles.  Picture this.  A jar filled with the number of marbles, representing one for each week that you have left with your child before they graduate from high school, and theoretically move out of the house.  (and even if they don’t move out at 18, let’s just be honest—they’ve moved on).  Right now, on Friday, July 12, 2013, I have 719 weeks left with my Oliver, and 823 weeks left with my Isaac.  Did I sit down with a calendar and count this out?  Nope!  I downloaded the “Legacy Countdown” app on my phone, and let it do the math.  (Try it out…now!)

 
719 weeks.  823 weeks.  That’s not very many, if you really think about it.  Believe me.  I know this because we currently have 2 jars sitting on a table in our kitchen, filled with marbles.  We see the marbles decreasing each week.  And my kids are only 3 and 1.  Perhaps, yours are older.  You may have a considerably smaller number of marbles left in your jar.  Hit home yet?  I don’t know about you, but I’m constantly worried that I’m not doing a good enough job as a parent.  I second guess my discipline techniques.  I go to bed at night sometimes wondering if I paid equal attention to both my boys.  I question whether or not I’m teaching them enough about Jesus…or if I’m living my life in a way that shows them Jesus. 

So what do I do?  Find the answers in a book, right?  Well, any parent knows that no book has all the answers to crack the impossible code of perfect parenting.  However, the whole concept of time and its significance that was discussed at the Orange Conference is actually wrapped up in a book called, Losing Your Marbles/Playing for Keeps (Find it here).  It's written by Reggie Joiner, Elizabeth Hansen, and Kristen Ivy.  I highly recommend that you read it.

But in case you don’t (or even if you do), I have felt compelled to begin a blog series on the points of the book.  I’m offering you the “Cliff’s Notes” version, if you will.  From one parent to another, it’s inspiring to learn practical ways to reach out to our kids.  We live in a time where we’re begging for people to tell us how to do things. Hence, the Pinterest craze.  But, it’s also encouraging to hear that we’re not the only ones struggling to reach our kids.  So over, the next several weeks (hopefully, posted by Saturday each week…keep in mind I have a 3-year old and a 1-year old), I plan to put out a blog series on the 6 basic things that a child desperately needs over time. We absolutely need to be serious about the time we have left with our children.  And we simply are not going to reach them if we don’t even know what they need in the first place.

I hope that you journey through this with me.  I am certainly no expert on the subject of parenting.  Remember, my kids are only 3 and 1!  I am writing this as I am learning for myself.  I am currently figuring out how to apply these truths to the way I am raising my own children.

Comments

  1. The Fabulous Foster FamilyJuly 12, 2013 at 6:32 PM

    I am still learning as I go, too! Time passes too quickly! I looked at the time/weeks we have left with our four Foster children:
    Chandler will be gone in 150 weeks
    Dillan will be gone in 358 weeks
    Ethan will be gone in 567 weeks
    Isabelle will be gone in 671 weeks
    All I can say is wow! I sometimes wish I could turn back the clock for just a second :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thing 2: Love over Time

Love. I have actually struggled to write about this one, which is odd because love seems to be an obvious, right? When it comes to parenting, we all know that we are supposed to love our kids. Allow me to go out on a limb here and assume that we all do, in fact, love our kids. However, the more I have read this portion of the book (Losing Your Marbles/Playing for Keeps), and thought about it, I have come to the conclusion that love is not simple. But it’s so incredibly important. According to “Marbles,” “Love over time is the one thing that matters most.” I typically try to put all of this in the context of my own experience as a parent. However, in this case, I think I will share my story as the result of love over time from my own mother and father. My parents were so good at communicating, “I love you.” I never went to bed at night without hearing it. I never left for school in the mornings without hearing it. My parents never failed to tell me they were proud of me. T...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lessons Learned through Cake...and other Things

So I hit a low point this last week.  And it’s something I’m not proud of.  But I’m willing to write about it, because I know that realistically, many (if not all) of you have been there before.  My Oliver turned 3.  Naturally, I had to plan the perfect birthday party.  Those who know me know this about me: I am a ridiculous perfectionist, which is sometimes good, but mostly bad.  In this case, it was bad.  Months ago, we decided “Toy Story” would be the theme, so I began doing my Pinterest research.  My mom and I chose a particular design for a cake that we would construct together.  I’m not talking simple sheet cake.  Nope, this thing was the Prom King of all cakes…3 fancy layers, buttercream and fondant icing, intricate detail including lettering, 8 different colors, and cut-out graphics.  Insane is, perhaps, another word for it. Well, of course, the night before the big shin-dig, Isaac, my teething 8-mont...
1 comment
Read more

Thing 4: Stories Over Time

As you have figured out by now, my goal to produce these posts about the “Over Time” series in a matter of 6 or 7 weeks has been rather unsuccessful.   However, thanks to the encouragement from Kevin, my dear husband, I’m not allowing myself to feel like a failure.   I’ve always been slightly ridiculous when it comes to goals and meeting them.   So this time, I’m learning to take a page out of Kevin’s book: Goals are great.   Aim to achieve them.   But don’t beat yourself up if you don’t, and certainly don’t give up. That said…I started this in early July.   It’s now the beginning of October, and I still have 2 more posts after this one. And that’s okay.   The funny thing is, I’ve actually been eager to write this particular post since I got started.   This is my very favorite of all the things a child needs over time…stories.   Have you ever thought about the role that storytelling plays in the life of your child?   Probably not. ...
Post a Comment
Read more