Jump Start # 4087
Ecclesiastes 3:1 “ There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under Heaven.”
Our verse today opens up the beautiful section often called “the seasons of life.” Solomon contrasts a series of fourteen opposites. The good and the bad are placed side by side. Things we like and things we dread. There is a time for every event, we are told.
One of the seasons we are in right now, is the time of graduations. High school, college, grad school, they are wrapping up for the year and many students are at the edge of “what’s next” for them. Graduation is a season of transition. As the graduate heads off to college or trade school, he will no longer have mom and dad around reminding them of the things to do. Clean your room, take out the trash, get up and get ready, are the things that parents hope have been instilled in their child’s mind. Have you ever walked through a college dorm when the students are moving out? It’s like a war zone. Pizza boxes stacked up that have been kept for months. Clothes that haven’t been washed in a semester. Expensive text books discarded on the floor. Filth and dirt that would make most moms weep. On their own, some do well. On their own, some demonstrate that they are not ready to be on their own.
The season of graduating is a transition for parents. Your little boy is no longer ‘little.’ He stands taller than you and would rather be with his friends than stay at home and watch a movie with you. Graduating is hard on parents. You no longer rank as the most important in their lives. Friends and romance and sports and fun have now filled the spot you always held. Sure they love you, but you’re not the first choice anymore. That’s hard on parents.
Parenting, like farming, reminds us that there are certain seasons when things must get done. If they don’t, then what follows will become much harder. Around here, in Southern Indiana, the corn is already poking up through the soil. Farmers have planted. It’s going to take all summer and into the fall until that corn is ready to be harvested. A farmer who waits until summer to start all of this, is starting too late. He won’t get much of a harvest at all.
Parenting is like that. If parents wait until graduation time to start talking to their child about being responsible, having faith in the Lord and being a servant at heart, it’s really too late. Attitudes have formed. Character has been forged. Habits have developed. The planting season in parenting is when that child is very young. Over and over parents will repeat the lessons. They will illustrate those lessons through their own examples and lives. By the time some of us get ready, the child is long gone on his own way.
So, here are some thoughts:
First, use every precious moment to teach the big picture of life. God loves you. God loves you when you sin and make mistakes. The world can be evil. Be careful who you listen to. Talk about these things. Debate these things. In the home, in the church building, at the store, at the ball game, anywhere and everywhere one is plowing deep with God’s word.
Second, don’t expect perfection. You’re not. Your child will not be. The demands and pressure we place on young people can be enough to break their spirit. You want your child to try. Don’t quit because it’s hard. Don’t quit because you don’t like something. Stay with it. You want your child to be the best that he can be.
Third, build a relationship that is based upon the Lord and love. In the later seasons of life, your children can become your best friends. Precious memories have filled your hearts and brought you together. How special those generational family gatherings are. Stories are told. Lots of laughter. Lots of fun. All of these things are built upon the years of love and being there for one another.
Graduation…what a special time that is in your life. It’s a milestone event. But, the journey is not over. Not yet. New paths to follow. New challenges to meet. New people in your lives. As you face these decisions, having the Lord will you makes all the difference.
Roger