More Than The ScoreSample

As parent-farmers, how much time are we spending on the temporal versus the eternal? If you are a person of faith, you know that in the eternal context, everything we do matters. What difference do you think could be made if we saw our children as divinely appointed mission fields? We are taking part in developing young men and women who will become missionaries for God in a world that so desperately needs Him. That’s a powerful thought.

Think about all the time, effort, and money we’re putting into our children, especially as it relates to their life in sports. Yet, at some point, we know it’ll end. Some finish sooner than others, but even the best athletic careers come to an end.

What will they have left after the game? Hopefully, we have a great memory book filled with incredible wins on and off the field. Ideally, they will also have a ton of relationships that last for a lifetime.

These benefits are incredible. However, every one of these benefits is also temporal. We cannot and will not take those with us when we leave this place called earth. In comparison to the time, effort, and money we’re investing in the temporal, how much time and effort are we providing our children when it comes to the eternal? Are we spending time on the things that matter most, which will matter beyond this life? How are we doing at pointing our children toward God? Are we praying with them and for them? Are we teaching them the biblical ethics, morals, and laws that will pay off forever? Are we attending church and becoming involved with a community of believers? Are we discipling our children and helping them to connect with other godly leaders?

Long after the balls stop bouncing and the innings end, we want life-long friendships with our children. We want them to know God. We want to continue pointing them to Him after they’ve left our homes (and we’ve changed the locks). 

As we’ve broken through to the other side of parenting and we’re nearing that empty nest phase, we’ve come to a significant realization: God’s law of sowing and reaping cannot really be hijacked. We either plant good seeds and find the rewards of a blessed harvest, or we plant bad seeds and endure the pain of reaping difficulty and strife.

May God help us be disciple-making parents, parent-farmers who look forward not only to the harvests in this life but in the life to come.

For additional practical tools to help you break down the “win at all costs” paradigm and replace it with a growth mindset, check out More Than The Score. Let’s allow sports to give something that can be used throughout life: Character and virtue. Traits that matter more than the score.