Driveway Delight--Part 2

So, here is the continuation of my last post....this time it's all from my own head. : )

The other night we were driving home from church, listening to one of our favorite radio programs called Down Gilead Lane.  We live a half hour from our church, so we get to listen to a whole program each time.  I guess that's the one good thing about our long drive.

Anyway, in this episode, the Morrison family was all in the car on their way to Grandma's for Thanksgiving dinner.  It was a long drive, complete with bad weather slowing things down, crabby kids, crabby parents, and an annoying little brother who happily, continually told corny knock knock jokes and kicked the seat in front of him.  Everyone was highly annoyed with the little brother, and one sibling eventually ended up saying things that weren't very nice to him, even blaming the horrible time in the car on him. 

However, it was finally made clear that during the whole drive, only this little boy had had a thankful spirit.  While everyone else whined and complained, he alone had stayed cheerful and thankful for everyone's company.  The episode ended with the family realizing that this little brother had been right.  Instead of complaining, they should all have been thanking God for the time they had together as a family, even squished together in a car on a long, tiring ride.  The mother on the show shed a few tears as she thought of years to come when the family would all be grown and gone from each other.  And I admit, that silly little radio show episode was so thought provoking, and so absolutely dead on...that I shed some tears too. 

I love that article by Carol Barnier that I shared with you last time.  I love it because it is such a reminder to me that we do not have a lot of time. I have been becoming more and more painfully aware lately that my boys are growing older.  Twelve and ten years old are ages frightfully close to the teen years.  I don't mean I am afraid of the teen years.  I am actually excited to discover what kind of young men my boys will be as they grow and mature out of the matchbox cars and sword fighting years!  I love the relationship I have with my boys, and I am sure I will continue to enjoy that relationship through the next phase of our lives. 

But two things I know for sure about the teen years...they will be very different from the little boy years, and they will fly by very, very quickly.  Much too soon, my boys (and Cassandra, and even too quickly, my littler ones) will be leaving our nest.

I want to make these years I have with my children count!  I am so often reminded that we only have ONE chance at this.  ONE go around.  ONE time to be a parent to our children while they are young.  I do not want to waste the time...to end up looking back and saying, "I wish....." 

God has given us this time to teach them and train them and love them and laugh with them.  Heaven forbid we waste it away on selfish pursuits that were not so very important after all.

So let's spend the time to have those talks, play those games, read God's Word and teach those lessons.  And let's have some driveway delight with our children.....while we still can.