Our Greatest Gift

Forgive me while I brag a little.

Our granddaughter, Emma Elizabeth Price, is a softball player. A very good softball player. She is now a sophomore pitcher for her high school, Christ Presbyterian Academy. Emma was the high school team’s starting pitcher as an eighth grader and as a Freshman. Both seasons, she made the All District Team at the high school level. High School All District as an eighth grader!!! That’s not all. Emma also pitches for a very successful “travel” softball team that is rated in the top 25 in the country for her age group. Emma is very passionate about her softball and continually works to develop her skills. Her parents have helped her immensely in her quest to improve, with lessons, travel, workouts, and on and on. Not only is Emma passionate about playing now, but she has dreams of playing in college.

Then there’s our grandson, Colton Vance Stock.  Colton loves football and basketball. Although only ten years old, he can tell you almost any statistic you want to know about either sport.  We’re there for all his football and basketball games. He plays quarterback and receiver in football and has become a rebounding force on his basketball team.  It looks like Colton has a chance to be really good. I have especially loved taking him to Vanderbilt Basketball Camps to help him develop his skills. His parents have provided many opportunities for him to work on improving at what he loves.

Our younger granddaughter, Camryn Burke Stock, is into many varied activities.  There is nothing that she is more passionate about than her love for animals.  She has three dogs at home that she loves on continually.  And Camryn was the youngest girl to ever take riding lessons at Tap Root Farm. Jamie, her mom, takes her to farms where she can mingle with and love on all sorts of animals, while Diane uses a less hands on approach by taking her to the zoo. Her newest love…little donkeys in the field in her neighborhood. I have helped her hang and fill birdhouses at our home, even though Diane hates birds.

I relish the opportunities to help our family’s youngest generation do the things they love to do. What a joy to watch them develop their passion for things that I also enjoy.

But not long ago, our pastor, Mike Glenn, gave me and our congregation this wake up message.

“The world will tell you that the greatest thing you can do for your children is to help them find and live out their true passion. That’s just not so.  The greatest thing you can do is help them discover and follow God’s plan for their lives.”

What? You mean catching Emma’s pitches and encouraging her while she is practicing throwing her screwball is not the greatest thing I can do? There’s something more than taking Colton to an SEC basketball game early…to let  him stand down by the players while they’re warming up? There’s even something more important than creating family memories by spending time with Camryn at our special beach place?  Do I have things out of whack?

When I think back on the time when we were young parents, I realize that I watched friends sacrifice a lot to get their kids the “best” education, send them to the “best” colleges, get them the “right” lessons, and even live in the “best” neighborhoods. I watched people take elaborate vacations, and send kids to special development camps. Some of that worked out well.  But often the end result was not what those friends envisioned for their children’s grown up lives.

Do I really believe that the only way to have true happiness is through a relationship with God that puts His will at the center of our lives? If so, I must dedicate and align the things I do for my children…now my grandchildren…to be those things that lead to experiencing what I know to be truth. Just finding their passion will not necessarily get them there.

God’s plan for Emma’s life might well be tied up in softball.  In fact, she has already used her softball stage many times to witness about her relationship with God.  I hope that I cheered her on as much when she returned from her church youth group’s mission trip last summer as I did when she recorded 12 strikeouts in a five inning game.

My Prayer: Father, help me to know how to point our family to you even in the events I share with them where something else is going on. May I make each moment, each opportunity I have with them a living testimony that your plan is the way to real fulfillment. I don’t know how to do this, but you do. Guide me. Help me to follow.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

(Thought you might enjoy this new version of one of my favorites…quarantine inspired I think!)

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