Vapor

I watched the old Robin Williams movie - Hook - the other day. Out of that entire hour and a half, there is one quote that has been haunting my brain ever since then.

It's from the scene in the beginning of the movie where Peter Panning (I think that's his last name) has completely forgotten that he used to be Peter Pan. He has forgotten how to play, and he's forgotten how to enjoy his children. Instead, he's this crazy busy lawyer who makes promises that he can't keep, who takes business calls during his daughter's play, and who misses his son's most important baseball game because of a meeting.

That evening, his wife takes him aside and makes this statement:

"Your children love you, they want to play with you. How long do you think that lasts? Soon Jack might not even want you to come to his games. We have a few special years with our children, when they're the ones that want us around. After that you're going to be running after them for a bit of attention. It's so fast Peter. Just a few years, and it's over. And you are not being careful. And you are missing it."


You're children love you...they want to play with you.

How long do you think that lasts?

We have a few special years with our children when they're the ones that want us around.

After that, you're going to be running after them.....

It's true.

I see that in our own mothers - living for the times when we pop over for a visit, never wanting to push or pry or make us feel like we have to...but wanting to see us - I am sure - more than they get to.

Each day, our boys get a little more independent. A little more content on their own. This is right. And this is good. We raise our children to be independent, and we are raising our boys to depend on Christ alone and to be godly leaders in their own homes.

Our lives are fleeting - a vapor.
...And so is THEIR childhood.

I see my laundry, the dishes, forever unending and never caught up.
The table is always piled high.
The legos are perpetual.

But some day that will be all over.
These are the years for slowing time down.
For savoring.
I need to be careful so that I don't miss it.