Eternal Perspective
It’s funny the things that you don’t remember. I don’t remember my parents getting up with me multiple times in the middle of the night when I was a baby/toddler. I don’t remember drawing on the walls, wetting my bed, or refusing to eat perfectly good food. I’m pretty sure all of those things happened though because now I’m in the spot my parents were in not too long ago.
Thanks to the time change Jude has been waking up at 5 AM (he woke up at 4:30 AM Sunday) saying he’s hungry and Jess has been trying to convince our voracious 7 month old that he doesn’t need to constantly eat through the night. All this equates to utter exhaustion. But like all things in life it’s your perspective that ultimately influences how you process things.
Sure, in the moment when sleep deprivation is at it’s worse and all communication comes out with emotional overtones or incoherent sentences - I can’t help but feel a bit overwhelmed. But if I’m able to step back and consider how quickly these moments will pass and in the story of my life be just a blip, it’s all worth it. When I take a step back and shift my perspective from the here and now to be implicational and long term instead - what seems so big, isn’t anymore. Faster than I care to think about my boys will be Men and the foundation of their life that is being established today will have far reaching impact. With this perspective in place my actions become less selfish and more purposeful.
For Jess and I the way that we live and love is rooted in an eternal perspective not just for our lives but for the generations of children, grandchidren, and great grandchildren after us. While every day brings with it a new obstacle that has the potential to make us focus back on ourselves, it’s our desire to live in a way that is selfless. We constantly fail, but we are confident that grace is there to cushion our fall, prop us back up and give us the vision to live. If this grace wasn’t present than our failings would have power over us. Power to make us give up and quit or to make us live selfish and purposeless lives.
Just as it was established in our lives, it’s our prayer that our children will grow up with an eternal perspective rooted in life giving grace!
So good to hear this. I need that eternal perspective every day when I wake up.
Comment by Dan — November 4, 2009 @ 4:09 pm
Such a great blog. We were up at some God forsaken hour as well on Sunday morning. I believe it was 5am. This gave me a great laugh. Parenting is so hard but so worth it. Just wait until you have four that you are trying to get to go back to bed.
Comment by Jenney — November 5, 2009 @ 5:09 pm