Famous
baseball catcher Yogi Berra played against slugger Hank Aaron in the 1957 World
Series. An on-plate exchange occurred between the two when Aaron prepared to
bat. Berra chided, “Henry, you need to
hold the bat so you can read the label. You're gonna break that bat. You've got
to be able to read the label."
Aaron remained silent, but he knocked the ball out of the park on his
next hit. After running the bases and touching home plate, he responded to
Berra, “"I didn't
come up here to read."
In a word,
Aaron exuded intentionality. Merriam-Webster defines intentionality as “done by
design.” It speaks of the quality of
being purposeful and deliberate.
Christian
parenting remains one of the most effective means of accomplishing the Great
Commission. We can embrace the task with gusto – use the time entrusted to me
with these children to produce Christ-followers. Jesus did not command us to
just evangelize but to make disciples. To reproduce mature individuals who obey
Jesus and bear fruit in their lives.
Just as Hank
Aaron approached the plate to win, we can approach parenting purposefully and
deliberately. Here are four areas parents can practice intentionality.
Intentional with time
When my
oldest son was three, we routinely went out for “buddy breakfasts.” Some
Saturdays, we journeyed to Hardee’s, ordered cinnamon-raisin biscuits, and sat
at the high stools, enjoying life. Now that he is a teenager, I still look for
times and ways to spend time one-one-one.
I gleaned
from The Navigators ministry in college that in the early stages of
discipleship, the relationship is as important as the material studied. Later,
as the relationship grows strong, the emphasis shifts to the truth learned.
Building the
relationship with our children requires time. Don’t swallow the old lie that
only quality time matters. In reality, quality time cannot be manufactured. It occurs
in the middle of quantity time.
As our
children grew into pre-teens, we began taking them on summer overnight
father-son and mother-daughter excursions. This year my oldest son and I plan
on visiting Vince Gill’s guitar museum in Chattanooga.
I know life
is busy. I know the months and years clip at a fast pace. So let’s take out our
calendars now at the year’s beginning to plan some quantity time.
Intentional with reading
The
importance of reading in raising wise, productive children cannot be
overstated. Mark Hamby of Lamplighter Books shares that only two natural
factors will determine how different you are five years from now: the people
you meet and the books you read.
We can
expose our children to great books from history, great stories from literature,
and great attributes from people’s lives. Be careful to not let your children’s
repertoire consist only of the latest superhero or potty-humored popular
series.
Child-appropriate
series abound retelling classic stories like Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island,
and Little Women. As your children mature, guide them toward good, positive
literature that is well-written, thought-provoking, and teaches life lessons.
Take time to
read books with your children at every age. As children become tweens and
teens, select material that will provoke good discussion. Right now we are
reading and discussing Do Hard Things: A
Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations with our youngest two
children.
Through
books and literature, we can expose our children to world-changing thoughts and
ideas.
Intentional with boundaries
Remember, we
are not primarily our children’s friends. We are their parents. As a seminary
student, I heard Thom Rainer say that leadership means you get far enough ahead
of people so they can spot you are the leader – but not so far ahead that they
mistake you for the enemy and shoot you in the bottom!
Intentional
parenting requires making hard and sometimes unpopular decisions. We set
boundaries for our children for their best interest.
Last summer,
my wife birthed a marvelous plan. She created a chore chart for electronic
time. In order for our children to use their phones, video games, and devices,
they had to earn time based on household chores. For example . . .
Take out
trash = 5 minutes
Vacuum one
room = 10 minutes
Sweep and
mop one room = 20 minutes
Cook dinner
= 30 minutes
Tracey put a
chart in the kitchen and each day, our kids signed in their chores and
calculated the resulting electronic time. I’ve never seen them so motivated to
clean the house!
Don’t be
intimidated to get in front and lead, parents.
Intentional with family devotions
Raising
Christ-followers in our homes necessitates time spent at the family altar.
Various methods and catechisms abound. However, many times I found the most
effective approach is to simply open the Bible and authentically share what is
on my heart from God’s Word. Of course, parents, that requires you and I to
follow Christ daily. The genuineness of Dad and Mom sharing from God’s Word out
of the overflow of our personal relationship with Jesus will leave an indelible
– and intentional - print on the souls of our children.
Pictures used by permission from Pixabay.
My grandmother said, “Marion, I have loved you for
fifty-eight years. Now you are about to
go to heaven. You are going to see
Jesus. You have talked about heaven many
times. Now you are going, and then I’m
coming. So you go on.” Pa-Pa moved his throat as if to say
something. He closed his eyes and was in
heaven. 
