Needless to say, I've become slightly convicted over the phrase "Carpe Diem." I was watching the "Dead Poet's Society" the other night and this phrase was brought up. If you don't have a clue what I"m talking about, check it out on youtube. I didn't make it much past this seeing this scene because of how late it started. However, I wasn't thinking how I needed to walk into a hallway to look at pictures and think about how they lived their lives. My thoughts went more to my parenting nature.
I'll be honest. It's hard being a parent, but pretty easy to become a lazy one. I've come to realize that sometimes, I am straight up lazy... I am not seizing the day with my children. I may be seizing it for me and myself. Here are some ways that you can test to see if you are "seizing" the opportunity with your kids or yourself.
1.) You don't do stuff with your kids because you don't like doing it... Lets' be honest, there are lots of things our kids enjoy doing that we do not. I just find what I want to do more entertaining than making 50 paper
airplanes that are destroyed almost the instant they are handed over to
the hands of the wee ones. I must remind myself, parenting takes work and being a good parent takes even more.
2.) You get angry at your kids for being kids. Why should my kids stay quite in the car? Did I like sitting in a car for long periods of time. And on that note, since when do kids have to be quite in restaurants? They're kids and they'll let you know when they're excited, upset, sad, or in pain.... and they will do so as loud as possible to insure that everyone knows what page they are on.
3.) You are too busy to play with them. This is something that I have to check all the time. I'm too busy with ____(fill in the blank)___. For me it sometimes revolves around nothing of importance... like "prestige-ing" in "Call of Duty" or just keeping myself busy with mediocre "daily" or "honey-do" tasks. Like right now, my son wants me to make a paper airplane for him... but I'm doing this.
4.) Teach them about Jesus. I fail a lot. My wife, children, friends, students, co-workers, and the like could all attest to this. But one of the main things, I need to do is to share Jesus with my kids. Why we shouldn't slap our sister. Why we don't say "I hate you". Why I fail to make the right decisions. Why I lose my temper. Why I ask for forgiveness. It's all based on the concept of trying to be like Christ. I may not follow Him the greatest. I may not be the best example. But I must, Must, MUst, MUSt, MUST point them to Christ and say this is how we should act.
There are more, I guarantee it. But these are the main ones for me. So what is it going to take for you to seize the day with your kids? spouse? parents? Neighbors?
Do you see what I mean? Carpe Diem within the family is just the beginning. What happens if we fulfill it outside the family as well --WITH a Christian worldview.
