Lifeguarding

Temps are soaring here in the balmy state of Kansas.
And, NO it's not a dry heat. It's anything BUT a dry heat.

So, we've been swimming.
And swimming some more.

Because really, what else do you do in an excessive heat warning?
 (which BTW, did they  have those when we were kids?)

Anyway, with all this swimming that is happening, the Princess has begun calling me her Lifeguard.

Yesterday, when she was calling me "Lifeguard", I was struck with the thought that really that should be in our parental job description.
"Lifeguard".

And a hard part of the  job it is too.

There is the physical aspect of course. Which I've shared on here several times has not always been an easy road for our family.

But, I think harder than that, is the part of our job that requires us to guard their hearts and minds.

I get so aggravated when I see parents putting their heads in the sand or acting as if things will just take care of themselves.
Or "Kids need to learn in the real world!".
Really?? I want to respond, "What world do YOU live in? The world I live in- God is Holy and calls us to be holy as well."

It's easier to look at other parents and point out what we perceive them as doing wrong, then look inside our own homes.
At least it is for me.

The Hubs and I take our calling as "Lifeguard" very seriously.
And no that doesn't always make our kids happy.

But, then again I wasn't called to raise happy children.
Or cool ones.

And, yes that means sometimes, they get aggravated and don't understand why they can't see certain movies or watch certain shows.
Or why instead of doing "this" we are doing 'this' instead.
Or why we go back and correct them to say "Yes Ma'am and Yes Sir".

And No, I ABSOLUTELY do not care who else is doing or seeing or listening to what.

God, blessed us (so undeservingly) with three precious gifts.
If we don't guard their minds and hearts-who is?

No, I don't worry about them running off and being WILD when they go to college because we didn't let them see the latest movie.
I do however worry about them becoming so desensitized to bad attitudes, cursing and lust that they begin to think of those ways as 'normal'.
That it's some old fashioned notion that you can live differently from those things.

So, yes, I guess the Princess had it right when she called me her lifeguard.

Hopefully, I'll have taught them how to swim well in this crazy current of life by the time they are old enough to swim on their own.
But, if I ever see them drowning, I'll throw out a lifeline and pray they'll cling on to it and remember that they were taught how to swim against the flow.

Proverbs 22:6 Start children off in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not turn from it.