School mornings in our home can be an absolute nightmare. Our local elementary school begins the day at 7:30 (yes, in the morning) which means getting the kids up before 6:30 and out the door no later than 7:15 (so at least we live close). I take our kids to school most days; it is on my way to the church building and helps me to get to the office at a good time. I also love taking the kids to school. I am grateful for the 10-15 minutes in the truck every morning. It is quality time for me to spend with them, we laugh, sing, talk, and pray. Well, theoretically we do all of those things, on bad mornings we just try to be polite with one another and pray that we are not late to school after fighting to get out the door–but I digress.
On those good mornings, there are songs, laughs, and prayers. I love that time. I love it because it is giving me an opportunity to be formative in the lives of my children. Angela and I are blessed for her to be able to work part-time and be home with our kids most afternoons. She does homework, serves snacks, reads, and plays with our kids. It is a thankless task that is often more stressful than my description suggests, but it is a valuable time of formation. She is so important in their formation and she gets to spend tons of time with them shaping and molding them. I work full time as a pastor and my one-on-one time with our kids is less than hers, so I have to make the most of it. That’s why I love driving our kids to school (and taking them hunting).
Our time with our kids is limited, in fact our time with everyone we know is limited. We must actively redeem the time. For me, I’m trying to make the most of my available time with my kids 10 and 15 minutes at the time. Just think, through the course of one week taking my kids to school, I spend between 50 and 70 minutes, thats around an hour, and in that time we are able to memorize scripture, pray for others, tell stories, plan Angela’s Christmas gifts, and all sorts of other things that simply will not fit on this page. Somtimes we even race down the sidewalk to school…all before 7:30 am 5 days a week
180 hours, thats about how much driving time I have with my kids on the way to school over the course of their elementary years. That’s 4 1/2 work weeks worth of investment. Paul warns us to make the best use of the time because the days are evil. Is this admontion any more important than with our kids? How are you making the best of the time you have to raise your children to know Christ and make a difference for his kingdom? How are you making the best use of your time to raise your kids to know that they are loved and accepted as your children and that their Heavnely Father loves and accepts them even more readily than you?
