What I live for - H

Well, there are a lot of things I get excited about, but I think what I want more than anything...if I accomplish nothing else in my lifetime, I want to say that I raised children with strength of character and who grew up and made a positive mark on their world. I want them to be strong people, bold, and wise. What I worry about the most (along with the drastic change that having kids brings...like not being able to go snowboarding for a while =P) is that I don't have that strength of character myself, that I can't ask them to follow my example because I want each of them to become a better person than I and live a more upright and purposeful life than what my life exhibits. Lord, please help us to be good, Godly parents. (p.s. I'm not pregnant.)

Children are in large part a reflection of their parents. I see a lot of my mom in me along with other major influences in my life. I was blessed to have had a great church (youth group and in college) all through my life and to have had a mother who was always praying for her children. She even prays for us now. I know one thing she prays for me is that I would be a good teacher to the kids in my classes because in a small way, I play some part in their upbringing. Isn't that awesome! Anyway, my parents along with the church are responsible for my upbringing. I wonder though, what part of my life and character will my children reflect. You hope it's just the good stuff, but you know that it's not. Lord, develop our character, form our hearts, and give us wisdom that we may pass these things on to our little ones one day.

This stuff is on my mind for a few reasons, one being that I am slowly (ever so slowly) crawling closer to the point of actually having children myself, and I worry about it.