Parenting, Prayers, Productivity, and Really Good Stories
Every now and then, I go back to the archives and find something really fascinating that’s worth sharing again. This story from 2012 surprised me, and I’ll explain why at the end.
At about 7:15 this morning, I prayed a very specific prayer. I asked God for a productive two and a half hours before a slew of appointments began. In my mind, this productivity would include trashing old files consuming space on my computer and trying to make my Dragon dictation program work. Once I did those things, I planned to compose my Friday blog.
You may guess what’s coming. It seemed that God had a different productivity plan for me. Around 7:30, our youngest son sat down with me at the breakfast table and showed me this wonderful Keynote presentation he had composed on his iPad. Various group members had sent articles, media, statistics, and cartoons to show that happiness level does not depend on material wealth. The presentation was intriguing and beautifully displayed.
But then — IT DISAPPEARED! I must have touched something that closed the file, but the problem was it wouldn’t open again. Being the responsible student he is, Robert had saved the file to iCloud, and indeed the copy was there. However, in the maddening manner of the “Imonster,” neither copy would open. As tension escalated, I sent him off to school, promising to research and try to resolve the problem. Two hours and many deep breaths later, the cover photo of the file still beckons, welcoming the viewer, but refusing to deliver.
I have some questions: is this God’s idea of productivity? Is parenting productive? What will be the yield of these two hours?
I’ve been a parent long enough to know the answers to these questions. Lost/corrupted-file-experiences have a way of sticking like a bright yellow post-it note in the mind’s eye. People who feverishly labor to help recover those files are agents of hope partnering with us in the search and destroy mission against decay.
Let productivity perish; I believe this’ll make a really good story one day.
And that is where the story I wrote in 2012 ends. Obviously, I was running short on time. And in those days, with four children, two still at home, especially in the month of May, following up on blog posts was not my strong point.
But now, three years later, I can add a little ending, which might encourage parents and others interrupted in their plans for productivity.
I don’t remember what happened. Honestly, I didn’t remember the story at all until I read it. But on May 25, 2012, it seemed to me like a really terrible, horrible no-good, very bad parenting day.
So now, in 2015, I texted my son (who did, by the way, get in to college, despite his crashed Keynote presentation:-)! to see if he remembers the incident:
Thankfully, he didn’t even remember it the same way!
Please note: I thought it was my fault. He did not. That should also be instructive to me regarding some of my parenting guilt! Neither of us can remember if the file was recovered, but my instinct is that he just re-did it.
Finally, the coach in me needs to point something out. Has your plan for productivity ever been superseded by God’s plan for growth? Productivity is important and good. But have you ever noticed how God’s plans so often supersede ours? I’m just not always sure about the value he places on productivity:-)! Or, could it just be, that his idea of what is productive has more to do with our growing in grace than our growing in accomplishments?
What do you think? How have you seen growth in days or times when you were seemingly most unproductive?
What does this story suggest to you about some of your apparent parenting “fails”?
![When’s the last time you highlighted your weakness?
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Cor. 12:10
All-Powerful God,
We confess,
we in Western culture
crave power, control, and independence.
The last thing we want
is to be seen as weak.
And yet, weakness is the way of Christ,
so it must be our way as well.
The apostle Paul understood that,
so in the face of accusations
that he wasn’t an apostle,
he countered the boasting of the “super-apostles”
with some boasting of his own:
“If I must boast,
I will boast of the things
that show my weakness” (2 Cor. 11:30).
And then he mentions how he was lowered in a basket through the window of a wall in Damascus, of all places,
a place he went to persecute Jews only to be knocked down on the road,
struck blind, by his Lord and Savior himself.
Paul shares many other weaknesses in 2 Corinthians,
a book that’s all about weakness as the way
of followers of Christ.
He asked that you would relieve him from a “thorn in the flesh,”
but you did not.
Instead, you said,
“My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in your weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).
Lord, we know we really are weak —
[for each of these areas, name any weaknesses you have]
weak in our bodies,
weak in our work,
weak in our wills,
Weak in our faith,
Weak in our hope,
Weak in our love.
We believe
that you your power is made perfect
in and through our weakness.
Help our unbelief.
In Jesus’s name. Amen.
Read 2 Corinthians 11:30-12:10.
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