both are meant to be experienced to the full in life. i don't want to go halfway on either.
i also want to live by Jim Elliot's motto = "wherever you are, be all there."
in recent months i've been changing my life more and more to reflect that desire. so that every moment of every day i am fully engaged with whatever i am doing.
so, when i read this thought below on Twitter a couple months ago - it resonated with me deeply. and as Moms and Dads are about to go home from work in the next few hours, i thought it would be an appropriate idea to post:
When you see your kids today - play hard.
When they grow up they won't remember you worked hard for them.
They will however remember you played hard with them.
i hope my words at the beginning of this post are enough to convince everyone that i'm not advocating for lazy working fathers or parents who cheat their workplaces, dreams, or jobs.
but i am saying we should be careful not to get sucked into the lie that our culture sells us = that our kids need us to OVERwork & neglect spending time with them for their sake.
the lie that we need to spend less time with them and be slaves to our work so that we can provide for them.
provide WHAT exactly?
a way of life that again, is a lie our culture sells to us as necessary.
no, YOUR kids need YOU.
they need you ALL THERE. ALL IN.
your kids need you to stop using work as an excuse - as if working excessive amounts of time to make $ to buy them stuff is ultimately important.
they won't remember those long extra hours you spent at the office killing yourself "for them" (i.e. a paycheck)
they will remember YOU
fully engaged
all there
rolling on the floor with them, finger painting, piggy back rides, pushing them on the swings, talking about life, drawing pictures, singing, dancing, wrestling, LAUGHING, and
pouring your life into theirs.
that is what they will remember.
