Matthew 26:11 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.

I don’t think I had ever made this connection before, but this can be applied to a number of close relationships, particularly parenting. We always have our work, our social commitments, our hobbies and the like, but we don’t always have our children close to us, and particularly not at whatever age they happen to be at the moment. As many people have noted, they change so fast! If we don’t prioritize being present for our children in the moment, that moment will be gone forever. This specifically applies to people in ministry. When a person is called by God to specific tasks, those naturally take precedence, but we often misunderstand, I think, exactly what God is saying to us. If we neglect our role as parents “for the sake of the ministry,” we, and our children, will regret it for the rest of our lives. It is sometimes heartbreaking to read the stories posted in a Missionary Kids Facebook group to which I belong, from people who were sent off to boarding school from 1^st grade, even, because that was what was expected of missionary families. Home schooling by correspondence wasn’t even considered, even after it became a real possibility. To come back to the Scripture, Jesus wasn’t saying that we aren’t to help the poor, but he was saying that we have to ask God what His priorities are for us. Parents, and specifically ministers with children, have many valid things to be doing, but those things aren’t always primary in the moment.

When I was growing up as an MK in Japan, we were blessed to have a US Air Force base in commuting distance, so I and my siblings attended their dependents school. When we first got back to Japan after WWII, my oldest sister was the only one of school age, and my mother taught her at home for a while using the Calvert Course, one of the early correspondence schools, but her education was always something of an issue, and she suffered from some of the choices that were made. That was echoed in my generation, when our older daughter wasn’t able to catch up to written Japanese sufficiently to be a regular student as a 5^th grader in a local school, and her personality made home schooling quite a battle. She has likewise suffered from some of the choices we made. I was the only child left at home when it hit my father that he hadn’t prioritized his family sufficiently, and he was in most ways an exemplary father. This isn’t just a parent/child issue. I have come to be very aware that my wife and I won’t have each other on earth forever, and I am to make the most of the time we are given. That doesn’t mean being together instead of doing ministry, but it does mean prioritizing the time God gives us. It was good that we were able to attend the conference this week together, but on the trip home yesterday I could have been more considerate of how she was feeling and reacting to circumstances. At the conference, during some free time in the schedule some friends came to see us because we were in the area, and the Lord gave me a magnificent opportunity to share the Gospel very clearly, but Cathy was there too, so it wasn’t an either/or situation. I am to seek the Lord at all times for His priorities, so that I won’t miss any of the work, or the blessings, He intends for me.

Father, thank You for this reminder, particularly in the context of the past four days. Help me recognize Your priorities and follow them, so that Your will may be done in and through me, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!