A feature of many movies are the inclusion of the deleted scenes. These scenes were scripted, recorded, and edited, but, due to different reasons, they never made it into the final release.
As you watch them, you might notice that that scene wasn’t that great in the first place. Maybe the scene was decent cinematography but just seemed irrelevant to the big story line of the film.
Have you ever wished there were some “deleted scenes” from your life?
Maybe they were moments that you wish you could relive and do over. It could have been circumstances that you endured that you wish you never had encountered. You might wish you could erase it due to the quality of your “acting” or just due to the nature of the “scene” itself.
Imagine that your children were to follow your example. Let’s think that their movie would turn out actually to be a remake of the classic. Are there scenes that you wish could be left out of their movie?
If you really want to keep those scenes from making it into your child’s life, you must be intentional. Parents are called to help their children navigate through life. We are called to warn about coming pitfalls and to point to safe havens.
While parents can and should protect their children from much in this world, children will encounter difficult circumstances sooner or later. Parents cannot keep children from experiencing pain, but can prepare them to interpret and deal with that pain. In the same way, parents cannot keep their children from sin, but they can prepare their children to know how to withstand coming temptation. One of the main ways to help them is to parent intentionally concerning dangerous areas that you know about.
As a parent, you have already faced challenges. But you also are aware of the coming challenges looming ahead.
That time is coming. Our children need wise counsel to help navigate them through the coming years. Parents today are wise to equip their children with adequate lessons, networks, and influences that set them up for success.
The best set of directions comes from someone who has been there before. Parents, let’s lead the way.
Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. -Prov. 1:8
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.
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