children see. children do. (for real.)

in case you missed it i posted a really powerful video HERE.

recently Crystal's grandmother was at our house visiting from NY - to see Keira for the 1st time.
just to preface, her grandmother is the epitome of a godly woman/follower of Jesus - and by that i mean, in her every day, walking around life she exudes a spirit and attitude that attempts to live life like Jesus did. she's as authentic as it gets and what you see is what you get with her. she's the same in every situation. i don't think you could find anyone in the world who would have anything negative to say about her.
all pretty crazy for a pastor's wife who has been in the "fishbowl", so to speak, for 40 years or so.

anyway, Crystal and i are listening intently for parenting philosophies, "theologies of parenting" if you will... things that we think are wise or that we want to pick up on and learn from and implement. our ears are perked up to hear this kind of stuff.

Crystal's Grandmother happened to be with us when it seemed Keira was 1st starting to IMITATE what she saw us do. they were talking about how cute that was and then her grandmother said something profound that rocked us both:

"When my children started imitating it really made me think about what I did...

Because I wanted EVERYTHING that I did to be worth imitating."

i think it took a little bit for the power of that statement to sink in with Crystal. she just processed it a little bit. she shared it with me later that night and the power and weight of that statement almost knocked me down. it cut us to the heart.

that's humbling. it's inspiring. and yeah, that's the way we want to live in front of Keira.

because children see, children do.

they're going to figure out how to live by watching their parents.

i know i did.

i have hundreds of stories i could share from growing up. my Dad was this guy who lived with an amazing integrity whether anyone was watching or not. and i know because i was watching a lot of times that he never knew i was. i still remember those moments and you better believe they impacted me & still do.

but aside from all those memories there's one image that's burned into my brain. every single morning from the time i was pretty much old enough to remember, til i graduated from high school and went away... i can remember walking down the hall and passing my Dad's room and seeing him reading the Bible. just immersed in it.
i remember walking by and thinking "man, what is in that book that's so good? because i just don't see it. seems boring to me."
in fact, i was pretty sure he already knew how all the stories ended but he was so into reading it for some reason. it made me want to know what he saw that i didn't.

eventually i started imitating.

i don't know when i actually fell in love with that collection of books we call the Bible, but my Dad was the 1st person and only person for a really long time that i ever actually saw love that Book. i'm thankful i had someone to imitate.

children see. children do.

so, how in the world are Crystal and i going to live lives in such a way that we never do anything that's not worth imitating?

well, we have goals for what we would love to see Keira become & i guess we need to constantly be becoming those type of people too...

it matters big time.

because

children see. children do.