Guest Blogger #11
Steel Cowboy lives in Pennsylvania, he's divorced, recently engaged (congrats), a single father of two who tries to put in all in perspective and add his Harley for good measure.
He's a good man and a good read. He writes at, of course, Steel Cowboy. Stop by for a ride you won't forget.
Teach Your Children Well
By Steel Cowboy
Like so many others, I came across Chuck's place here by way of a link
from Gordon over at his Real Live Preacher blog. One of the first
posts I read of Chuck's had to do with his daughter, Beth, and how he
was coping with her having moved away from the homestead, and the
feelings it conjured up for him. I immediately connected with his
writing, as my daughter Heather was graduating soon, and would be
moving out of my place to go live with her mother.
She's gone now, moved out a couple of weeks ago. She comes over every
now and then, just to say hi, and leaves me messages on my voice mail
at work and on my cell phone. I think she's a little homesick, and I
have mixed feelings about that. She's eighteen, after all, and a
college student this fall. Spreading her wings and leaving the only
home she has known for all of those years is good for her, even if it
is only leaving to live with her mom.
She came to see me Sunday, bringing her brother Zach home from his
given time with their mother. We went to lunch with my fiancée, Cheri,
and had a pretty good time. I dropped Cheri off at her place and the
kids and I went home. They immediately fell asleep, Zach on the floor
and Heather on the couch.
I sat in my chair and just watched them, wondering not for the first
time where in God's name the time had gone. A young woman lay on my
couch, a teenage boy on my floor. I looked up at the walls adorned
with pictures of them both, from their infant years to the present,
and could track the march of time by them as surely as if I had
calendars before me. I reflected on how lucky I've been, having had
some quality time with them. Six years ago their mother and I split,
giving me a crash course on both fatherhood...and motherhood. I
came to appreciate how precious a gift God gives us when He charges us
with raising small ones, and what an incredibly short time we are
given to do so.
When we are young, time is meaningless. We think we have an infinite
amount of it. We scoff at parents who try to warn us that we'll look
back someday and realize how fleeting time really is, and wish we had
it back.
Looking at my children sleeping, I fondly recalled all the mornings
when I would kiss them before leaving for work, and all the times I
tucked them into bed, admonishing them to say their prayers, giving
them a kiss, and turning out the light before shuffling off to my own
bed.
I look at them in their slumber, and long to have them small again, to
sit on my lap and play patty-cake with me, to go for walks in the
woods with their tiny hands in mine, to hold them on my lap while
watching some cartoon for the twenty-third time that day, to snuggle
them close… but I know that time is gone for me now, and it will not
return.
They are grown, or almost grown now, and my time to teach them is
drawing slowly to an end. I wish they would learn one more thing,
though, before they go. I hope they listen, but I know they won't, for
I did not when my parents told it to me.
Be thankful of each day you have, little ones. Treat each hour as the
gift it is, and don't ever squander the chance to touch someone's
life. Days are numbered for us, so please be careful of your time,
guard it jealously when it comes to others. Play when you can, if
given the choice between another hour of overtime, or swinging in the
sun with your kids or loved ones. Hold the hand of one you love,
because the time may come when you can't. Love with all you have, for
that love may be taken away, someday. And always take time to say
your prayers.
Come to think of it, that's pretty good advice for us all...
Enjoy your time, my friends, and God bless.
9:44:39 AM 
|
|
