I just returned to my office after addressing our church’s first official MOPS meeting. MOPS—Mothers of Preschoolers—is an international ministry of encouragement and equipping for, as you might guess, mothers of preschoolers. I love one tagline that I found on the MOPS website: “MOPS keeps building on 34 years of gathering moms to become better moms…for our families, communities, and the world…because better moms (really do) make a better world.”
In my words to these precious mothers, I shared a story that I’ve rarely ever told (I think because it’s so personal). You see, I used to pastor in South Mississippi in a place called Poplarville. Beth and I had both of our children while I was pastoring Steep Hollow Baptist Church; so you can only imagine the feelings I have for that church. We lived in the church parsonage within spittin’ distance of the church (not that I ever spit on the church, you understand. That’s just a country form of measurement!). In the yard/parking lot between our home and the church was a street light. Considering how far out of town we lived, that light was a welcomed sight every night.
One night after church…I was walking home…and Morgan was with me. She’s now my 13 year old, but she couldn’t have been more than 2 or 3 when this happened. I was walking and she was walking right behind me. I turned around to grab her hand and I said, “Come on baby.” And she said—remember it’s night and there’s a street light in the yard/parking lot between our home and the church—she said, “I’m walking in your shadow, Daddy!” She was playing a game…but those words penetrated my heart as I considered what she said. “I’m walking in your shadow, Daddy!”
That’s a thought that’ll keep a dad up at night…“I’m walking in your shadow, Daddy!” Am I living my life in such a way as to lead my children in the ways of righteousness? If my daughters practice their faith like I do…view the world through similar eyes to mine…grow up to be like me…will I be pleased with who they've become? Wow! That makes me want to be a better dad. It also makes me want to be a better husband…a better Christian.
“Lord, help me to be that man.”
2 comments:
It would behoove us all to be cognizant of the fact that we are being watched and listened to by "the world." The places we go, things we say, what we allow in our lives, may be the only pattern they see for what a Christian is.
WoW thats powerful!!! When I think about leading my family and the impact we as dads have on our children...it truly is amazing. Jamie sang a song a few Sundays ago called "a hundred years from now". It made me think that 100 years from now my influence will only live on in the way that I brought up my children that prayerfully led them to raise their children to follow Christ.
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