Responsibilities

Last Friday night we sat in the emergency room with Hannah after another soccer injury. She had a mild seperation in her shoulder. I joked with everyone that came around that a girl wouldn't get these kind of injuries while playing the piano or violin. The response I kept getting back was - Oh, but it's not nearly as fun. I laughed it off knowing I was talking to unbelievers. Then on Sunday I was at an event chatting with a lady I knew to be Christian for many years. I made the same lame joke and she made the same comment back. I didn't immediately get bothered until she went further and said, "At fifteen wouldn't you have rather played soccer than the violin? Didn't you just want to have fun? Let the girl just live it up now." Our society is all about kids having fun now, then when they are grown (who knows when that will be) they flounder because they have no direction. Our churches have become saturated with the world's philosophy of raising children. The idea that children need to be entertained and coddled for the first eighteen years of their lives has become damaging. I don't have a problem with kids playing and enjoying themselves, in moderation. We were created to work and they can't learn to work while they are so busy playing. We do participate in sports, but the girls still have responsibilities at home. It's a season when they have a lot of juggling to do trying to balance school, chores, and sports. They often have to make the choice between responsibilities and fun. From experience they don't always make the right choice, but neither do I. The point is we are all learning to fulfill our responsibilities before God. And yes, we'll keep playing soccer and deal with the aches and pains of it all.
The picture above was taken two years ago when Hannah and Sarah were on a feild trip to A. H. Stephens State Park. Hannah had broken her collar bone playing flag football on a tennis court. Her only regret is that she missed the flag and her team lost.