Ultimate Desires...

What are your ultimate desires for your children? After several weeks of thinking in circles through various issues, I've had to ask myself this question over and over. I've realized that if you were to look at the things most of us actually spend our time talking about, it would appear as though our ultimate desires are for our children to...

Go to the best schools

Make good grades

Be the best in their class (or at least better than 90%) ;)

Be awesome athletes

Have a wide range of opportunities

Have good friends

Go to college

Get a great job

Be "successful" (whatever that means!)

Get married

Have children

Etc.

While none of these things are necessarily evil desires, they have been making me think. We've been sorting through this whole school thing a little early because our house is for sale so we are taking into consideration what school district we'll move into. As I've been asking around for advice, here are some of the pros and cons I hear about various schools...

"School A is smaller so your child has a better chance at being in the top 10% and excelling in sports."

"I sent my son to School B and when he went to college he was absolutely not prepared."

"School C has gangs and a higher rate of teenage pregnancy."

As I've thought over these things and tried to kind of make some sort of a decision for where our 16 month old might possibly go to kindergarten, I've tried to back up and ask... what is our ultimate goal? What is our ultimate desire for Grace and our other child(ren)?

Very simply, it is that they would love Christ, and be captivated by Him each and every day...both in the seemingly menial tasks and the seemingly important tasks. That they would have a deep love for His people and spend their time serving instead of judging. That they would follow where He leads and that they would desire to walk with Him. Ultimately, that they would glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

So, if that is really our ultimate desire, how does this play out as we try to make a decision about school districts? I honestly don't know. I wish I had an answer because then I would have the answer to where we should move. But through all of this, I have learned that all the menial things we try to control are pretty ridiculous. God can "educate" my child through a teen mom. God can "educate" my child by not giving them a spot in the top 10%. God can "educate" my child by not providing an immediate job for them. It just depends on how we define education.

(Ok, obviously, OBVIOUSLY, I'm not suggesting that we all try to put our kids in the most difficult situations ever and pray that God teaches them through it. I'm not saying that I hope Grace is at the bottom of her class or that I hope she has wild friends, or that I hope she isn't prepared for college so that God can teach her. Obviously. But just in case you really think that I'm that crazy, I wanted to clarify.)

I'm just reminding myself of what is really important as we sort through this decision. I hope we can come back to these basics desires as we continue to make these types of decision in the future.

This prayer has been written in the front of my Bible since college. I didn't write it, and I don't know where it's from. (I'm probably breaking some copyright laws here.) It's a prayer that I hope will will truly reflect the desire of my heart a little more each time I pray it...

"Lord, I give up all my own desires and hopes, and accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all utterly to Thee to be Thine forever. Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit. Use me as Thou wilt, send me where Thou wilt, work out Thy whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever. Amen."

It takes a lot of faith to pray that God would work out His will in my life "at any cost." I think it takes even more faith to pray that prayer for Grace. What if Him working out His will means that she doesn't go to college, or that she doesn't get married, or even... that her time on this earth would be shorter than we "expect." As much as it pains me to even type those words...

Are we actually able to pray that God would work out His perfect will in the life of our family at any cost? And do we really mean it? Is our ultimate desire for Grace really that she would glorify God and enjoy Him forever? And do our actions and decisions reflect that?

Just some light thinking for your Sunday evening... :)

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." -Romans 8:28