Archery may be easy if you’re trained. Just having a bull’s-eye in front of you doesn’t guarantee you’ll hit it. When I was a college student, I “learned” archery as one of the units in a PE class I was required to take as an elementary education major. Learned is in quotes because it would be more accurate to say I tried archery.
Just because the bull’s-eye was in front of me didn’t guarantee my arrow would come anywhere close. It wasn’t easy! People often recommend you have a goal to aim for. That certainly is true. But it doesn’t guarantee you’ll reach it or hit it.
What about bowling? I enjoy bowling with my family and with friends on occasion. One of my favorite bowling memories is bowling after a wedding reception with the bride, groom, and wedding party. To the others there, we must have looked ridiculous in our fancy dresses and tuxes. Continuing the celebration of my friends’ love and marriage in this way was very special.
There we were. We each chose a ball. The pins were right in front of us. There were even gutter boundaries to help us. Yet, there was no guarantee that when we released the ball it would knock down any of the pins much less score a strike. We needed to concentrate and think about everything – pulling the ball back, the release, the aim, the follow-through, where our feet were, and more.
Like with archery, knowing the direction and your goal is certainly valuable, but intentionality, strategy, and training are necessary to knock down the pins.
It’s the same for parenting. You have to know what you’re aiming for when you think about raising your children. What does your bull’s-eye look like? What would you consider a strike? Being intentional is wise. Having strategies to help you accomplish your goals makes it more likely that you will be successful.
I hope you will be blessed by a series of blog posts about how to intentionally raise children. I want to help you think about what your bull’s-eye is and what your strike is. Then I want to help you discover some ways to be successful.
It’s easy today to be distracted. It’s easy to think everything should be easy. But it never has been and it never will be easy to raise healthy children. This week, think about your goals and why you have them. I’d love you to let me know what they are. Come back for the next few weeks as I continue the series and give you some thoughts about hitting the bull’s-eye or making a strike as you develop children’s intellectual, emotional, social, physical, and spiritual sides and their character qualities, too.
Be blessed!
** Make sure to come back on Thursday to watch this week’s video where I address similar issues.
