October 11th, 2024
by Brent Corbin
by Brent Corbin
“I remember having a breakfast 7 or 8 years ago with an older friend in my life (he was a mentor of sorts, as he too was a ‘girl dad’) and talking about the exhausting nature of having so many young children at the same time under our roof. I am positive I also talked about how much I loved my young daughters, but I’m equally sure I talked about how exhausting it was. In fact, I can hear myself uttering the phrase: “It. Is. A. Grind.”
He looked at me and said, “Those are the longest days…and the shortest years.” Those words came off of his lips and tattooed themselves in my mind. It was such an apt description of how my wife and I were feeling. Loooooooong days complete with all manner of spills, bumps, bruises, tears, screams, meals, requests for attention and invitations to play. And yet, just like that, those days are behind us. Short years, indeed.
If I were to turn the phrase just a bit more and adapt it to our current stage of life, it would be: the shortest days and the shortest years. The sheer pace of life with primarily middle and high school children is dizzying. We’re no longer needed in the same way that we were when the kids were young, but we are still VERY needed. Yep, you guessed it - we’re primarily needed for our ability to drive them places.
Perhaps you are, or have been, in this stage of life yourself. Maybe you too are wondering where to find the time to actually connect with your children. Time to connect about something more than just schedule coordination and homework completion. I want to talk about their heart, their faith, what excites and depresses them. I want THAT kind of time. But here’s what I know: this kind of time cannot just be found. The activities and the pace of life are too fast. This kind of time must be created.
I am convinced that to connect with our teenage children on a deep level and speak with them about the more substantive issues of their lives, we must create time to do so. We must carve out time for them. I have historically not been good at this. Work always seems pressing. Church and relationships in town are high values for us and get some of our top billing. Times in which I sit with one of my daughters and speak with them on a heart level are pretty sparse. But I can manage an occasional walk with one of them. Or go lay out on the trampoline on a (soon-to-arrive) fall afternoon with another one. You might even really score and get a night away to log some serious hours together. Whatever you can manage, it will be worth it. I never, never regret creating time for my children. They are always worth it. It’s a joy to serve in a ministry that is seeking to help churches (and the parents therein!) reach and equip their youth for Christ. It’s an even greater joy when my “day” job reminds me that my primary job is to love and serve the family that the Lord has given me.
We are grateful for those of you who are trying to love your families well, and for others of you who are serving as “family members” for people around you, whether at church, or in your neighborhood, or wherever else the Lord may have you.
Never stop starting to create time for those the Lord has given you to love. You’ll never do it perfectly, but they and the Lord love when we at least try!
All for Jesus,
Brent Corbin
Executive Director
He looked at me and said, “Those are the longest days…and the shortest years.” Those words came off of his lips and tattooed themselves in my mind. It was such an apt description of how my wife and I were feeling. Loooooooong days complete with all manner of spills, bumps, bruises, tears, screams, meals, requests for attention and invitations to play. And yet, just like that, those days are behind us. Short years, indeed.
If I were to turn the phrase just a bit more and adapt it to our current stage of life, it would be: the shortest days and the shortest years. The sheer pace of life with primarily middle and high school children is dizzying. We’re no longer needed in the same way that we were when the kids were young, but we are still VERY needed. Yep, you guessed it - we’re primarily needed for our ability to drive them places.
Perhaps you are, or have been, in this stage of life yourself. Maybe you too are wondering where to find the time to actually connect with your children. Time to connect about something more than just schedule coordination and homework completion. I want to talk about their heart, their faith, what excites and depresses them. I want THAT kind of time. But here’s what I know: this kind of time cannot just be found. The activities and the pace of life are too fast. This kind of time must be created.
I am convinced that to connect with our teenage children on a deep level and speak with them about the more substantive issues of their lives, we must create time to do so. We must carve out time for them. I have historically not been good at this. Work always seems pressing. Church and relationships in town are high values for us and get some of our top billing. Times in which I sit with one of my daughters and speak with them on a heart level are pretty sparse. But I can manage an occasional walk with one of them. Or go lay out on the trampoline on a (soon-to-arrive) fall afternoon with another one. You might even really score and get a night away to log some serious hours together. Whatever you can manage, it will be worth it. I never, never regret creating time for my children. They are always worth it. It’s a joy to serve in a ministry that is seeking to help churches (and the parents therein!) reach and equip their youth for Christ. It’s an even greater joy when my “day” job reminds me that my primary job is to love and serve the family that the Lord has given me.
We are grateful for those of you who are trying to love your families well, and for others of you who are serving as “family members” for people around you, whether at church, or in your neighborhood, or wherever else the Lord may have you.
Never stop starting to create time for those the Lord has given you to love. You’ll never do it perfectly, but they and the Lord love when we at least try!
All for Jesus,
Brent Corbin
Executive Director
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