Happy

It continues to amaze me how we as parents work so hard to give our children what never made us happy. We work so hard to ensure that they have all the things that never satisfied us. We want to make sure that they choose the correct career and have the best education even though both education and career left us less than satisfied. We want to be sure that we leave them as much as possible even though they won’t be able to take any of it with them. 

Don’t get me wrong. I understand that life is easier with certain benefits, but it’s not happier.  I’m not saying we should leave our career and give up on providing a home for our family. I’m just saying that our focus is really warped. 

The birth of Caden has brought me to a point of almost desperation to ensure that he doesn’t miss out on what I missed. I’m not talking about schooling or career. I’m talking about the years that I bought into materialism. I’m talking about my daily battle to realize that my joy is found in my relationship with God—not my checkbook.  I’m talking about my inability to rest because I still believe God is most interested in what I can accomplish—not who I am. 

If Caden is going to really experience joy, my goals in my life and his life have to be different than our cultural norms.  We have to ask first about their relationship with God and second about the homework.  We have to be more interested in how they are going to impact lives than we are in what career they will choose (by the way, God doesn’t lead people to careers. He leads to impact. More on this later this week).  We have to spend more on impact than we do on new gadgets.  This is my journey, and the crazy part is that it will impact the life of my son more than I would ever want to realize.