Stolen Moments

Parenting probably causes me more stress than anything else in my life. It's not that my children are bad or difficult because they are pretty wonderful girls. My anxiety is more about my wife & I doing the very best job that we can to set them up for future success. We don't want to miss an opportunity to guide them to make the right decisions and choose to stay on God's path. I realize that our daily time with them is growing shorter and this seems to add urgency to my awareness of investment opportunities.

I was blessed to get one of those opportunities today with my youngest daughter, Olivia. Our church is providing Thanksgiving baskets for families in need in our area and we needed a few more baskets purchased. Olivia was the most eager to be part of the process of buying & putting them together so she & I went out this afternoon. Not only we were able to set up food for 6 families, but it gave us a chance to talk about why we were doing it and how blessed we are right now. It ventured off to talks of mission trips to Arizona and her desire to go with us. She asked if I missed her & her sisters being babies and I told her that while I did, I was excited about this next phase of life and their life as adults as well.

There was nothing earth-shattering in our conversations--just sharing thoughts and glimpses of the future with one of my girls while serving others. It's an investment in love that I am sure will continue to pay off as they grow older.