Leaving a Legacy
I witnessed a first hand testimony of a young man in his early twenties that was caught in the middle of anger and frustration due to the possible separation of his parents. His parents reached the point of what they thought was no return three years ago in their marriage and the son, at that point, decided he didn’t like his parents too much nor did he respect them for disrupting his security of having parents that were together.
The reason that I tell this story is not to highlight what divorce or separation can do to kids, but to highlight intentional living by parents. You see, the mother in this situation decided to get some help and direction. Due to her taking action and being intentional, the father and their son ended up attending Focus Seminars. I witnessed them come from a level of disconnection to embracing each other with open communication and honesty that broke down the walls of anger and frustration in a matter of five days. It was heart warming see them then take that openness and honesty and connect it as a family with mom.
Five days of intentional motivation was all they needed to change the legacy of their family. It didn’t only change the family but the generations to come. Because parents decided to not let life beat them down any longer, they will cherish the fruits of not only a connected marriage but kids and grand-kids that will forever be changed.
This may or may not be your story. Regardless, I challenge you to put yourself in the middle of the situation that needs intentionality in your life right now. What is the first step that could be taken for you? Is someone important to you waiting for you to take the first step? Surround yourself with people that want you to succeed and lean on them through your burden. You have what it takes to push to the next level of effectiveness. Make it happen!
Moral Tolerance
There is an invisible line in our lives that determines which side of morality we fall on. When it comes to morality, there is a right and there is a wrong. There is a moral law we have distorted in order to make it more comfortable for our everyday lives. It’s my belief that this tolerance creates confusion to all. Young children cannot understand the moral tolerance that some of us lead with. Young children will follow what the adults around them display, not necessarily what they say…and there in lies the tolerance. What would it be like if our actions matched up with the moral convictions that were rooted in truth? When we have rules without clear understanding it creates rebellion in a young persons life. When we follow up our rules with relational understanding, our children connect with truth.
When my daughter gets in her strong-willed stance and decides that no one is going to tell her what to do, I have a decision to make…lay down the law and the rules and leave it at that…or get down on her level and build a relationship with her that communicates loving discipline. I don’t know about you but I didn’t have a lot of clear understanding of why things are happening when I was a young child. I was to do what was right, even though I didn’t necessarily understand it.
I believe that when we close the gap on the tolerance, we start seeing fruit in our lives that creates clarity and direction. We start surrounding ourselves with people that are accountable for their actions. Our mission in life starts to be unveiled when we get clear on what we will tolerate morally. What will you tolerate around you? Will you stand for truth or will you let your morals slide?
Modeling Marriage and Parenting
We learn how to be a mom or a dad by the way we were parented. We learn how to treat our sons and daughters by the way we were treated by our parents. We learn how to be husbands and wives by the way our dads treated our moms and how our moms treated our dads.
Our children are learning in the same fashion that we did!
Some of had great modeling growing up and some of us had less than desirable modeling growing up. What are you going to do about the way you learned about marriage and parenting today?
Investing in oursleves by looking at where we came from can be just the ticket we have been looking for. Since we cannot change or heal what we don’t first acknowledge, it is imparative that we examine our lives if we anticipate to correct our “out of line” ways of doing things. It’s not about blaming our parents in any way; it’s about assuming accountability for what we are doing present day.
What are you going to change today?