To My Daughter at her Graduation

Dear Rachel,

 

The time has come to celebrate what has been completed and yet has only begun.  I understand the nostalgia that sweeps through the mind at an occasion like this.  I have often danced with such thoughts myself.  Looking back is a normal part of our existence.  The backward glance can be our friend if used as intended.  Often I have looked through an old photo album only to find myself smiling or even wiping a tear.  Sometimes regrets fill my mind as I think of what could have been.  Looking back can and should encourage joy and motivate future striving.  It can also sober the mind and focus the thoughts. It should inspire thanksgiving at the forgiveness and mercy of God.  Nostalgia can be our friend and our teacher.  It can also be our enemy if it’s warden binds us and we become enslaved to what is sold to us as our “best days” which now are past.  Looking back without longing for what has been takes wisdom and courage.  We might retreat for a brief visit and find refreshment, focus, instruction and motivation but we must guard against the paralysis of the past.

 

You are at one of those many pivotal moments in life.  This is a time that calls you to look back.  Embrace the call but with the aforementioned warnings.  A deep breath of reflection will usher in much needed moments of restoration.  You are on a mountain top and from there you are able to see the path of providence that you have already walked and you are also able to see a vision for the future.  It is certain that the individual steps ahead cannot be well seen from the mountain.  However, your eyes can gaze, in a general way, upon the peaks and valleys; the curves and hills that paint the horizon.  The vision is enthralling and the view, like a giant magnet, will pull you forward.  That is unless you choose to only look back and long for the days of yesteryear.  Thankfully the Omnipotent One has chosen to keep the individual paths of the future hidden lest we become overwhelmed with the dangers and sorrows and lest we become prideful of future achievements.  He has chosen that we walk by faith as we pilgrim forward.  However, He lets us see the big picture of peaks, valleys and winding roads.  The specific pits and rocks and merriments may not be seen from the top but the breathtaking skyline beckons us onward.

 

Rachel you are challenged to march forward.  You do so bathed in prayer, saturated with love, and with hope in God.  As you think of us please recall patience, tenderness and forgiveness.  As co-sinners with you we have often failed you.  There are games not played, tempers lost, words unspoken, and encouragements not given.  We offer no excuses and ask only for forgiving love.  We also are looking back this day.  Tears of joy and regret wash our eyes.  We also are tempted to long for and listen for old opportunities to knock again.  We also are challenged to learn from our nostalgia, stand on what is eternally good, and look into the future.  We find ourselves with you.  We stand on the mountain at your side.  Your joy today is our joy.  Your hopes are our hopes.  With older eyes we can see with you the peaks and valleys that are ahead.  We are on the same journey– though we will stop in different villages along the way.  Let us go together to that “City upon a hill”.  We see it now with the eyes of faith.  Let us labor to make sure that we enter in.  Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be.  We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.  And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (I John 3:2-3 NAS). 

Rachel, if our faith is in Christ and Christ only then the best is indeed yet to come.  That (future) “best” is exceedingly better.  With Christ as our hope we reach forward.  The mind can scarcely contemplate the words “we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”  These are hope inspiring words.  Rachel, cling to this hope and because He is pure—you—my dear daughter—walk in purity.

 

Your mother and I have loved you even before that first moment when through tear clouded eyes we saw you.  The journey has taken us through many fevers and ballgames.  It has winded through family, friendships and churches.  It has taken us through the waters of baptism and brought us to this day—a new day.  This is a day not to be lost on dreams of folly but gained by the hope of Christ.  Yes, we look back and remember.  We look inward and re-focus.  We look forward and gain new vision.  We look upward and long for Christ.  We move forward in purity.  This is a great day not to be wasted but to be celebrated.  He has brought us here.  He will lead us onward.  Take the next step with full confidence that you are in His grip.

 

I love you,

 

Daddy

Just a few words of encouragment for leading a visionary family.

1.  Show Appropriate Public Affection to your Spouse.  This communicates a sense of security for your children and gives them visionary hope of joy in their future marriage.

2.  Live an Ordered Life.  Chaos in the home fosters chaos in the heart.  A clean house, healthy meals, early rising, daily family worship, family exercise and fun activites encourage a sense of well being in the home.

3.  Go to Church Regularly.  It has often been said “Going to church won’t make you a Christian any more than going into a garage will make you and automobile.”   That being true the true Christian will want to go to church where the greatness of God is proclaimed and the hope of His coming is anticipated.

Love your children they are a gift from the Lord.

RR

TO See Ahead You Must Look Back

“Look ahead and don’t turn back” is the mantra that many associate with visionary thinking. The problem with such an equation is that it is dead wrong. Yes, people of vision must cast a wishful gaze forward but before they can do that they must fully engage themselves in a look back.

Parenting requires great vision. The faithful parent simply must know how to see into the future and wrap their arms and dreams around things yet unseen. Psalm 78 captures the essence of the forward look with these words: “…tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done” (Vs. 4). Parenting the present generation requires thinking about the future generation. Thinking about the future generation while parenting the present generation requires thinking about the past generation. We are to teach our children that, “which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us” (3).

How can we apply these words?

1. We must put our minds around ancient biblical history.

What we are looking for is the greatness of God demonstrated in His superintendance of His people historically. This includes His provision, guidance and chastisement. Psalm 78 is filled with such instruction.

2. We must seek to impress the character of God upon the hearts of our children.

Children and adults learn to trust God for the future when they are able to see his faithfulness historically.

3. We must train our children with an eye towards our great grandchildren. That the generation to come might know…That they may arise and tell them to their children” (6).

4. Visionary training keeps great objectives in view.

What are we really aiming at when we teach our children who God is and what He has done? Our objective is three-fold.

A. We are aiming at the goal of faith in God (7).

B. We are aiming at the goal of remembrance of God (7).

C. We are aiming at the goal of obedience to God (7).

Visionary goal setting for our children requires that we and they know that God can be trusted. We know that by looking back. The very call to remember God requires that we look back. The call to obey God requires that we look back to the commands of God.

To have a visionary family we must see ahead. To see ahead we must learn to look back. Moving forward by looking back is at the heart of the message of Psalm 78.

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