While it’s easy to go with flow, try to make changes

THREE weeks ago I was camping at a Christian music festival “Big Church Festival” with 35,000 other people.

It was quite a weekend — filled with encouragement, worship, precious time with friends and family and, of course, marshmallows around the fire.

I was there with a number of other families. My own included our four children — 15, 13, a five-year-old and a three-month old.

I was struck by many things but one in particular came up in two of the artists’ intros. They spoke about becoming a parent for the first time, the miracle of new life and parents’ heart for their children.

They spoke about praying over their newborn babies. For their growth and future to be good. For them to never know a day without knowing the love of their parents and how precious they are. To grow to know the Lord Jesus and walk in the blessings and path he has for them.

Having a three-month-old currently this was a wonderful reminder. What a privilege to be praying for our children’s futures to be good. For them to make good choices. For them to experience as few scars and damage and wrong turns as possible because we love them so much and want the best for them.

Of course, they will also learn from ups and downs and mistakes that will inevitably come but, as a parent, my heart goes out to them for blessing, not harm.

A friend suggested that I could pray each time I fed Caleb, my three-month-old, for all my children. It has been powerful and emotional. My heart bursts for him and my other children, longing for their futures to be bright and to protect them from harm even though I will never fully be able to do this.

It has been an interesting time. It feels so natural to pray these things for my children and to really want them.

It made me question: Do I also pray these things for myself? Do I think wisely about decisions I make, the path I am on, do I show and receive love to and from those around me in my friends and family in a way that blesses them and myself? Or have I just drifted into taking the days and people for granted and not being present, just complete the tasks for the day and it’s a win?

It’s easy to go with the flow, without walking deeply with gratitude and wisely with seeking change and transformation where needed. A further question is do I value myself enough to invest time in this? It’s easy to want this for my children. Have I just drifted into accepting second best for myself?

Our Father doesn’t want us to go a day without knowing his unfailing love for us. He wants us to walk with him on a path of blessing, to help us make wise choices, to move towards repentance and restoration. He doesn’t want us to drift through life. There is always more!

Just as my heart as a parent is “for” my children, so God’s heart is “for us” to know his love and be all he has created us to be.

Do we know how precious we are to him? Let’s pray for our families, yes, but also ourselves, that God would open our eyes to his love and to the path of blessing before us as we make choices with him that are wise and good.