Surviving the Blur

Sometimes I think the toughest part of writing a sermon is not deciding what to put in, but choosing what you have to leave out.

Recently I gave a talk at LifePoint for our summer teaching series called Stages. My talk was called: Surviving the Blur. You can listen to it here. In the talk I gave 5 insights for succeeding in the blur of parenting young children. I had more material than I could put in the message, so here is some of the material from the talk, and some that was left on the cutting room floor.

• You’ll never get this time back.
• Just because they sometimes make bad choices, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad parent.
• You have an opportunity to disciple world-changers.
• They are training ground for your spiritual development.
• They already know more than you think they know.
• They hold a very special place in the heart of God.
• You can change their behavior, you can only influence their beliefs.
• You need to invest relationally now so you can influence relationally later.
• They know the real you, whether you know it or not.
• Concern yourself more with being the right kind of parent than having the right kind of children.
• Your children are a stewardship from God.
• Stop striving for perfection, embrace consistency.
• If you have to choose between quality time and quantity time…choose both.
• Be the child you want your children to be.
• Give yourself a break.
• Savor the seconds of this fleeting stage.
• The danger with this stage isn’t life passing you by, it’s you passing life by.
• Teach them what it means to love Jesus.
• You have more to contribute than you think you do.