Making our Mark...

There is a lot of pressure to be successful. According to the worlds standards, being successful is about the car we drive, the house we live in, the "toys" we possess and the job we work at. I have had family members comment on our decision for me to stay home and not use my college degree. I was asked one day, "Don't you think you wasted your time in college getting a degree you will never use". Okay, that's an interesting perspective! Dave and I were talking about the idea of success and making a mark in this world the other day. It is funny how the world can distract us from our original goals. When we decided I would quit my job and "sacrifice" the monetary rewards that come from both of us working, we had other goals in mind. Our goal was to raise up kids that would be strong, confident, have a heart for God and be influential in impacting others for Christ. Seemed like a simple enough goal, but little did we realize the challenge we would be up against. Each decision was a personal one, for our family alone. I never thought...oh, everyone should do what we are doing. That is the cool thing about God, he is a very personal, individual God, who wants us to pursue Him the way we were designed to, with our own gifts and talents.
In the course of parenting our three really great kids, I have, at times, lost sight of our original goal; to raise up kids who are strong, confident, have a heart for God and will be influential in impacting others for Christ. It isn't about the material, they will not be able to take it with them nor will a new car or bigger house help them to influence others for Christ. Those things are the distraction in so many ways.
What got us talking, was Dave realizing he had become distracted from our original goal by the lure of climbing the corporate ladder at his job, he realized that by pursuing other positions within his company, he could possibly be sacrificing what he had set out as a goal...influencing and coaching our kids. Now, don't get me wrong, getting a better job or changing jobs or better pay is nice and helpful in this economy. But for us, it became a distraction, the new job could potentially take Dave away from home more often and for longer periods of time. In this season of parenting, the kids still need us, our time and attention, our coaching and guidance, it is very different than when they were younger, but they still need us.
So for now, the mark we are making may not seem very glamorous, but Dave and I need to keep our eye on our original goal, we need to be content with where God has us and content with the path God has us on in this parenting journey. Who knows what the future will look like, but if our mark is 3 kids that go out and influence and change their corner of the world, that is going to be an incredible ripple effect to be sure!
Just more thoughts on this thing called parenting!