Family Talk Night Light for Parents

Under the Big Top

I want you to be wise about what is good. Romans 16:19

Josh was so excited. The day had finally arrived. After lunch, his father was taking him to the circus! Then the phone rang. As Josh listened to his father speak, his heart sank. Something about urgent business that required his father’s attention downtown. With tears in his eyes, Josh got up from the kitchen table and began walking slowly toward his room. Then he heard his father say, “No, I won’t be down. It will have to wait.” Almost in disbelief, Josh hurried back to the table and saw his mother smiling at his father. “The circus will come back, you know,” she said. “I know,” his father answered. “But childhood won’t.”

We do have choices in how we spend our days. Yes, there are consequences if we put off an assignment at work or postpone cleaning the house. But when the alternative is taking time for your son or daughter, what is the better choice? After all, when Jesus asked two fishermen named Peter and Andrew to “Come, follow me” (Mark 1:17), did they respond with, “Not now, Jesus, we have important work to do”?

We encourage you to weigh your options carefully as you plan your schedule. Sometimes an afternoon under the big top is the best appointment of all.

Before you say good night…

Do you ever appear to value your work over the kids?

What is God saying to you about the amount of time you spend with your children?

How can you increase your time together as a family?

O Lord of time and eternity, You know very well how fleeting is the opportunity to encourage our children. Open our eyes so that we might cherish such moments and not let them slip away. In Jesus’ name, amen.

• From Night Light For Parents, by Dr. James & Shirley Dobson
  Copyright © 2000 by James Dobson, Inc. All rights reserved.

Illustration adapted from Illustrations Unlimited, edited by James S. Hewett (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1988).