Last week, my seven-year-old daughter walked up to me and asked
for a pocket-knife lesson. As you can imagine, I was shocked. I
thought, "My daughter wants a knife lesson?" The more I thought
about it, my thoughts went from "What?" to "Cool!"
You should have seen us in just a few minutes. There we were sitting on
the deck whittling away on sticks. She had a smile a mile wide, and so
did I. When I told her that we were whittling, she thought I said,
"Fiddling." She said, "Dad,
I love to fiddle!"
The past few days I've spent with my ten-year-old nephew who is
visiting while on a school break. We have hunted, fished, played
basketball, laughed, and wrestled. It's a wonder we haven't broken
anything. There have probably been times this week that my wife has been glad
we have all girls - too much testosterone around the house this week.
Words fail me to explain the feeling I had watching him put a worm on his
hook for the first time, reeling in a fish, and learning to filet the fish for
supper. As we ate those bluegill he said, "This is the best fish
ever." The glow of
wonder and awe that has beamed from his eyes have reminded me of the little
blessings I too often take for granted.
God
keeps impressing on my heart the incredible impact that one person can have on
another if they will just spend a few minutes with them. This is no more
clearly seen than
when an adult spends time with a child. I'm not sure if its
because I recently turned 40 or not, but I've been thinking a lot more about
the value of investing ourselves in the lives of others. Good or bad, the
person I am today, my belief system, my morals, my work ethic, my personality
and convictions are in many ways the product of the influence others have had
on my life.
As far back as I can remember I have loved spending time with my
elders. Some of my fondest memories are of the night-time talks with my
parents and discussions we had while traveling down the rural countryside of
Kentucky. Memories of sitting around the family table as my grandparents told
their life experiences still bring feelings of safety and comfort. I smile deep
within when I think of family gatherings during the holidays listening to my
uncles try to tell a better story than the other. You want to know something?
You know them. You know them all even if you haven't met them.
How? Well, if you know me, you know them because they helped shape
the person I am. Their involvement in my life helped shape who I am.
That's the incredible impact you and I make when we invest a
little time in a child. We help shape the person they become.
From my parents, I learned compassion for people and my work
ethic. From my grandparents, I learned to see God in the simple things of
life and the value of family. If you have ever listened to me preach, you
heard the influence of my Uncle Glen who was my first pastor. He preaches
from the overflow of a deep, intimate relationship with Jesus. When you
are around him, you feel like you are with a man who just came from having
coffee with Christ. My second pastor, Roy Loney, taught me the power of
spontaneous humor in a sermon and to give people a desire to come to Christ, no
matter how difficult the sermon's subject. Roger Wright, my pastor
through my teens and first years of my own preaching ministry, placed a fire in
my soul for practical, text-driven sermons straight from the Word of God.
The time we spend with a child is one of God's most powerful,
life-transforming tools, and we dare not take this lightly. The Apostle
Paul wrote on this subject to Titus, and it is recorded in the Bible. He
encouraged the older men and women to be examples to the younger ones (Titus 2:
1-8).
He wrote, "Teach
the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in
faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be
reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine,
but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love
their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at
home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will
malign the word of God. Similarly, encourage the young men to be
self-controlled."
Only heaven knows the difference you can make in the life of a
child if you will spend a little time with them. One of the mentors in my life
is a man named Bob. On one particular Sunday as he and his parents were leaving
church as a young boy in Pennsylvania, the preacher patted him on the head and
said, "One day you might grow up and
be a preacher." God took that little seed of encouragement and
planted it deep within his heart. Over the next several years, God
watered that seed until it was a full-grown conviction that God had indeed
called Bob into the ministry.
Later, Bob Russell went to Bible College in Cincinnati, moved to
Louisville, Kentucky, and eventually lead one of the largest churches in
America - Southeast Christian Church.
Life Application:
Take the opportunity to spend time with a child. You don't
have to plan a big adventure - a child just wants your undivided attention,
love and support. You may feel you don't have anything to offer a young
person today, but you do. You have you. Tell them your stories. Believe
me, they will be interested. Share your hobbies. Give them a smile,
a firm handshake, a word of encouragement. You can make a difference.
