Freshman Panic
Theme for this Week: Teaching Responsibility
Thursday, November 22, 2001
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening.
But afterward there will be a quiet harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way (Hebrews 12:11).
Bonus Reading: Hebrews 12:5-10
Two days before the Thanksgiving break, our homesick daughter phoned. She said she had less than four dollars in cash and didn't know how she was going to get home. She was finding relationships at college much less warm and supportive than she'd experienced in her small high school. And, to top things off, she had two papers due and a major exam to study for.
As she talked and occasionally broke down, I had to use every ounce of willpower not to wire her one hundred dollars to tide her over. I wanted to rush to the campus to type her term papers for her. Yet I knew that short-term pain would result in long-term benefits to her character.
Patsyon the other extensionand I encouraged her, mostly by listening and agreeing how good it would be to see each other. Her mother explained how to charge gas and food for the ten-hour drive home with the credit card we'd given her for emergencies. As we hung up the phone, I had to brush tears from the corners of my eyes. But we agreed: Truly loving parents have goals for their children larger than their immediate sufferings.
Patrick Morley in The Seven Seasons of a Man's Life
My Response:
A time when I resisted my initial impulse to rescue my child was .
Thought to Apply:
Loving [my children] means doing what's best for them, not what hurts least.
Patti Covert
Adapted from: CThe Seven Seasons of a Man's Life (Zondervan, 1995).
For your convenience, The Seven Seasons of a Man's Life is available in the ChristianityToday.com bookstore.
Copyright © 2001 by the author or Christianity Today, Inc./Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity. 1 of 1
Father, use me to develop others' ability to take responsibility for their actions.
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