When it comes to parenting, sometimes it feels as if just surviving each day is a success. We can get so caught up in the demands of the day, running our crazy family schedules, that we give little or no attention to what is important. Have you ever been on a long hike? It is easy to let your eyes fall to the path, looking only where your next step will land. Visionary Parenting is about just that: vision. As parents, we must lift up our eyes and ask God to show us where we are going, and more importantly, where He wants to take us. Having a clear destination and vision for where we are headed enables us to be better parents here and now.
Have you ever stopped to imagine who your children will be when they are 20 years old? What character traits will they have? How will they see the world? What will they believe? Will they know and love God? Keep turning the pages of the calendar. Can you picture your children when they are 50? They will be coming down the home-stretch of raising your grandchildren. Will they have taught your grandchildren to love God? Will they be making a difference in their neighborhood for Christ? Turn some more calendar pages. Consider your sons or daughters at age 80. They are now grandparents to your great-grand-children.
What sort of legacy will your children have left for their grandchildren? For their world? Will theirs be a story of faith and character? Will there be a growing passion for Jesus and the Gospel four generations from where you stand today? If we are not intentional with our parenting, we run the risk of ending up with a family filled with achievement, recreation, and niceness. God created your family for a Kingdom purpose. He gave you children for a reason! Digging into God’s word will help you discover it.