My purpose

Another beautiful moment tonight. I was explaining to Nathan how much I loved him and how glad I was that he was my son. I wasn't sure if he'd understood when he said, somewhat randomly,

"I'm not just a teddy bear to you."

Actually, I didn't quite know what he meant. But gradually it dawned on me. His teddy bears are important to him—he's even sought assurances that some of the more important of them will accompany us when we move back to Australia—but they are nowhere near as important as the relationships in his family. He did understand what I was trying to communicate: he is far more important to me than all of the 'teddy bear' stuff in my life.

What he said next nearly brought me to tears and I hope that I remember it for the rest of my life:

"I was made to be one of God's helpers, and to grow up to be a Christian [Nathan has given his life to the Lord, but the vocation of a 'Christian' is still something that you grow up to be because I think he means by the term something like what we mean when we say 'missionary.' Since I can't entirely disagree, I've never bothered to correct him on this] and to go to heaven."

I love these moments of profound truth with my kids. Father thank you for giving us the privilege, the joy and the responsibility of parenting your kids for a little while.