“But Daniel resolved (purposed in his heart, made up his mind) that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine that he drank.” Daniel 1:8
“When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.” Daniel 6:10
I have to admit, I am not happy about 2016. I thought 2015 was a perfectly good year and I would have been content to stop the clock and stay right where we were. Yes, New Years bring new beginnings and the opportunity to start over but the New Year also draws our attention to the fact that time is fleeting. We can’t think about the beginning without simultaneously thinking about the year that has passed. What happened in that year? What did we accomplish?
Likewise, as parents, we take inventory and it is at this point things get real! We are confronted with the harsh reality that our children are growing up and let’s face it, every year brings them one step closer to leaving us. Let’s selah here Mamas so we can all have a good cry together.
For my part, it is hard to believe that a 6 pound 8 ounce baby boy can turn into a 6 foot man over night. Literally, over night. There were mornings when Landon would come down the hall and it appeared he had grown inches overnight. Our grocery bill went through the roof and I couldn’t keep cereal in the house. (There seems to be some correlation between teenage boys and heaping bowls of cereal).
Enter nostalgia. It seems like just yesterday that I held a little bundle of potential in my arms and now I struggle to reach my arms around his neck for a hug! This thing is going fast. Very, very fast. On New Year’s Day as Kraig and I were praying together, thanking the Lord for the blessings of 2015 and asking the Lord’s grace upon 2016, it struck me that this is the last full year that our son will be under our roof. As I spoke the words, I was completely overwhelmed with emotion. This is it!
Yes, I do realize that we will never stop being his parents and we will always have a place in his life. I also realize he may move away only to return again. But this is the last year, as far as we know, where we live out all of the seasons together in the same house. It is an emotional thought, an anxious thought and a thought that brings deep reflection because, our time is short! This is the last year we will have contact with him every day to hear about his day, to see the emotion on his face as he struggles with various circumstances in his life and just to be able to put an arm around him (even if that requires a step stool) to assure him that God is in control. After this, our level of influence and involvement begins to diminish, as it should, as he grows up.
On the heels of all of this emotion, the practical side of me took over. What will I do with this brief, fleeting window of time? What do I want to say? What do I want to do? What do I want to pour into him with the rest of the time we have left? I want to finish well! I want to send him off with a firm foundation that is rooted in conviction that is engendered by His relationship with Jesus. Yes, I want him to be able to feed himself and do some laundry but mainly I want him to be a man of principle.
The prophet Daniel was one such man. It says in scripture that Daniel was a youth when his home country of Judah was taken into captivity by Babylon. Scholars estimate that Daniel would have likely been between 14 and 17 years of age when all of this occurred. He was separated from his family and sent to serve in the king’s palace. Gone were the days of being under the watchful eye of Mom and Dad and their teachings about the One true God. There would be no observation of feasts, reading of the word of the Lord or trips to the temple to sacrifice and worship. All that Daniel had learned up to this point in his life would have to carry him for the rest of his life.
Let’s pause here for a moment. Don’t you love how scripture is so relevant to our lives? Although scripture doesn’t tell us about Daniel’s mama, I have to believe that she was just like us. That her joy mirrored our joys. That her hopes mirrored our hopes. Surely she never dreamed that she would be separated from him for the rest of her life. But, in his formative years, while he was still with her, she “trained him in the way that he should go.” And on the day when she said goodbye to her baby boy, as she was pierced through with many sorrows, was there the thought, “will all that I’ve instilled in him be enough?”
I know there are mothers who may be reading this that have children that are far from the Lord. Regardless of all that you have taught, they have not “purposed in their heart not to defile themselves.” Let me reassure you that God is faithful. You do your part and God is big enough to handle the rest. It is not all up to us if our children love Jesus. We are simply scattering seed. But let's not fall short in saturating our fields with the seed of God's word!
Furthermore, sometimes, scripture leaves blank spaces in order that we fill them in. Not that we base our theology on conjecture or what scripture doesn't say but God leaves room in order for us to make some applications in our own lives. We don’t know if there was a time in which Daniel wandered. Maybe he did. Even though we don’t see it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. But we do know that when the pressure escalated and he found himself facing life and death situations that he fell back on what he knew.
Over the course of the next 70 plus years, Daniel would be brought before kings and rulers and he would never waiver in his convictions or deviate from the truth. He suffered under the threat of the lion’s den, watched his friends survive the fiery furnace and learned to live as an alien in a pagan culture. Yet, he never compromised. And, he never returned home. Daniel died in Babylon.
Am I raising a Daniel? Am I raising a man who will have all that he needs by now to live out the rest of his life with unwavering compromise? Because, Landon is 16. He is the age that Daniel would have been. Will he fall under temptations that are less severe and falter? If he never came back home and never had the word of God to guide him again, would he continue to believe for the rest of his life? Against trials, sufferings and threats? I wonder…
And so, for 2016, I have my eye on finishing well with him. I have my focus on pouring into him all that I can so that it carries him for the rest of his life. Sobering? Yes. Difficult? Yes. Worth it? Yes! So, my encouragement to us as mother’s is to take inventory this year and every year as we raise and hopefully, disciple our children. Whether you are rocking a bundle of potential or struggling to reach his neck, let us heed the words of Solomon and not forget to, “train up a child in the way he should go so that even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Prov. 22:6 Let’s get to it! Happy New Year!
