To celebrate our son Justin's birthday today, my wife and I went to the Bob Evans restaurant on the
southside of Lansing for one of our favorites, blueberry pancakes and sugar free syrup. Best part was the conversation that's lubricated by coffee and good food.
I asked super-wife what one piece of advice she would give to each of our kids at this point in their lives. We have our son who turns 26 today and lives in Washington D.C. and our 28-year-old daughter Krista who's just about ready to give birth to our first grandchild who we have nicknamed "Rocky."
Sitting in a comfortable booth and finishing her breakfast, she answered without flinching. It was simple to her.
For Justin, she said the number one piece of wisdom she could share is to "keep the main thing, the main thing." This means remembering that his life focus needs to be on his relationship with Jesus Christ. Everything should be driven by that.
He's active and doing well in his field and works for an up and coming computer start-up, Clearspring Technologies which is a leader in web content sharing. He's on his game, but mom knows how easy it is for one to be distracted. She said that everything in life revolves around and serves that relationship.
Now for our daughter, the mother of pre-born "Rocky", my wife recounted what she heard from Dr. Randy Carlson during his call-in show on Family Life Radio.
He told moms, especially new moms, to be on guard to not hoard up guilt about what you do as a new parent. New moms are bombarded with a constant stream of decisions. Their new child might get a diaper rash, an ear infection, cry a lot, not take to nursing or any of a myriad of things that come along.
My wife said super-daughter should not hang onto those. If she makes a bad call, then she can go to Jesus and ask forgiveness and be forgiven. But life goes on daily and new parents learn from everyday situations.
Pretty cool advice for both kids and I can only say, "Amen" and add only one thing: Don't forget to floss. You'll never regret it.
