I Want To Leave A Legacy!!
Today’s post is from my good friend Brian Bruss! Brian is the Campus Pastor at the Northwest OKC Campus of LifeChurch.tv. Brian and I have been friends for years and have walked through the good, bad and ugly of life together. He is a tremendous leader, father, son, husband and pastor. Brian and Divina have two younger kiddos and it truly is an honor to have Bruss post for EpicParent today.
Mr. Bruss, may the force be with you!! (as cool as Brian is, he is a HUGE Star Wars nerd)
So here is Bruss…
I want to leave a legacy. I want my children to grow up to know and follow Christ. I want them to be salt and light. I want them to hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”
That is how to create a legacy. Train my children. But it’s hard work.
I’m a pastor at our church. Along with the many blessings that come along with vocational ministry, it also has some challenges. Long hours, emotional meetings with people who are in pain, glimpses into the darkness of this world. Sometimes as I drive home in the evening, I long to zone out in front of the TV. But that’s not an option.
From the moment I walk in the door at night, I am accosted by a 10 month old and 2 year old. “Daddy, watch this.” “Daddy, will you get out your guitar?” “Daddy, do you want to play Hi Ho Cherry-o?”
They’ve been waiting for me all afternoon. They’ve been waiting to play with me, to tell me about their day, to share new discoveries with me. So while it would be easier for me to do that “halfway” play with them thing (you know what I mean) – sit down and talk with them and have my phone out in my other hand looking at emails and texts etc. while “playing” with my kiddos I know that would only be giving them half. They deserve the full me. Not sharing me with sports center or the internet.
“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”
Every moment and every interaction with our children is an opportunity. A chance to train them. A chance to begin forming their character. Whether the moments are moments of discipline, or moments of play, each moment is crucial. Each moment is a stone in the legacy I am forming. The time we have with our children is limited. There will come a day when our girls won’t be 2 or 12 anymore. There will come a day when our sons won’t ask us to do puzzles with them anymore. So, let’s not let our children grow up thinking they are in constant competition with our phone, computer or whatever. Let’s commit to fully invest in the most valuable blessings we have in our lives, our kids.
Can you share 1 way that you are specifically training your children in God’s Word?
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I believe there is so much wisdom in the elderly generation- a piece of advise that I think of often came from a sweet 95 year old lady friend of my family’s. In conversation about parenting with her, she said how much ideals and moral boundaries had changed over the years, and she advised me to teach my little guy that it ‘n the beginning’ is where it all started. I teach him that God made our everything- fingers, toes; he made each of us. As he gets older and starts to understand more, we have started praying and thanking Jesus for every good thing. Even if it’s not his ideal situation or he didn’t get his way, I remind him of Gods blessings still. I want him to know and understand that Jesus loves us dearly, more than mommy does. He always takes care of us, and even if things don’t turn out as we want them to, he still takes care of us and blesses us richly.