Our Highest Goal

As a nanny of a 5 1/2 month old little boy, I have alot of time on my hands when he's napping. And because I am not keeping him at my own home I'm limited in what I can do. Now I love my fair share of tv shows but I know that watching tv all day is not productive! So, I take a big bag of stuff to read or take the laptop when Chuck doesn't have it so I can blog. One of the books I just finished is "Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens" by Paul David Tripp... a good read for anyone with kids. If they aren't teens yet, they will be!) I was particularly struck by a section that discussed our "wants" for our children. Because we all truly want things for them... a good job, a great education, a healthy checkup, happiness, loving marriages, etc. In the midst of our life with them, what should be our highest goal? What is it that we want to produce? What do we want them to be? Famous, wealthy, healthy, athletic? Where is God in this ranking of wants for our children? Are we desiring above all else that our children know and love him? Wholeheartedly. Above all things. Crying out to Him. Praising Him. Through the words of David, Paul Tripp reminds parents what should be the paramount focus of all of our parenting efforts:

"One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." (Ps. 27:4)

"How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!  My soul yearns, even faints, for  the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young - a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you...
Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked." (Ps. 84:1-4,10)

What David expresses is a heart for God... that is what we should want for our children... our highest goal. Maybe it hasn't been our primary focus thus far, but it can be going forward!