Hi everyone,
Lately I’ve noticed people telling me how much my kids have grown. Of course, I see them pretty much every day (not including those days that I purposely put them out of my mind and ignore them) so it is hard for me to gauge really how much they have grown. But I know they do grow, and as the years pass for me as a parent I start to realise more and more what all the other parents before me have told me, “cherish them when they are little, before you know it they’ll be grown up”.
Of course, I didn’t believe them at first as it was taking forever for my kids to grow up (still is really as my youngest is only 4 years old), and really, I will cherish them at any age. But as they grow, I do notice that things do change. They are more independent, they recognise more how corny I can be, and their eye rolls at my jokes are getting to be a little too real. So I’m thinking instead of trying to freeze them in time, I need to learn to be the best dad I can be for them at this time, this time of transition, of change, and of growth. And also how I can continue to be the best dad for them at whatever stage of life they are in.
The time is now. Maybe I need to hang up the corny dad jokes and be more serious. Or not, maybe I can wait a few more years.
Here are the readings for next week:
Daniel 12:1-3
Psalm 16
Hebrews 10:11-25
Mark 13:1-8
The time is coming indeed. Not just for our kids and others to grow up, but the changing seasons, the periods of war and strife, and the times of peace. As the clock continues to tick we will not get those moments back and we should make the most of them.
The disciples stood in awe of the beauty and majesty of the temple, and I’m sure it was a grand sight to see. But Jesus warns that the time is coming that things will change, and that our trust relies not on things that will not last forever. Rather, we are to adapt, evolve, and change with the times as time waits for no one.
While we in religious circles like to talk much about what will happen, in prophecy, in apocalyptic language, and in the afterlife, I think Jesus was more concerned with that is happening in the here and now, among our communities, within our countries, and what we can do in the name of justice and peace.
Now, in a time where the world is seeing so much violence and inequality, what can we do? Now, in a time where our cities are going through much change in leadership and demographic, what can we do? Now, in a time where church membership continually declines and is lower than ever before, what can we do?
The time is now, my friends. Let us make the most of it.
Peace be with you all this week and for all time.