that will be outgrown? If so, you will fail to help your children
grapple with spiritual reality. You will never confront the sinful
tendency to find meaning and significance in things. Life does not
consist in the abundance of possessions.
(^) Suzie was having a birthday. Anticipating all the money she would
get from aunts and uncles, she had begun to plan what she would buy.
She was already becoming happy in anticipation of her new things.
She was planning whom she would show her new things to and
imagining what they would say.
(^) Suzie’s parents were concerned that she learn to be thankful for
God’s bounty. Wisely and gently, they began to address these things.
They started by talking about how much she would enjoy the new
things she anticipated. Then they began to recall with her how each
new thing brings a temporary joy. Suzie could remember times when
she had gotten new things that seemed to bring such joy. Together,
they observed that while we can be thankful for new things, they
quickly lose their luster. They made a list of all the things that Suzie
had once been happy to have. Soon, they had such a long list that it
was a natural time to stop and pray, giving thanks to God for all he
had given. They gently shepherded her heart away from pride in
possessions to a more biblical and realistic view of God’s blessings.
A Long-Term Vision
(^) You must be a person of long-term vision. You must see your
children’s need for shepherding, not simply in terms of the here and
now, but in terms of long-range vision.
(^) Perhaps the behavior is something common like being a cross
person early in the morning. You must think about that cranky, cross
behavior not just as an isolated event one given morning, but in terms
of life-long impact. When I talk in this way to people, I often hear
something like this: “Well, I’ve never been a morning person either.”
Perhaps that is true. But the question is this: Has that habit of