At Laity Lodge, Family Camp parents and children are spending quality time sharing themselves with each other. At our last family camp, one particular father thanked us for the weekend. He said his family had talked about canceling because they were just too busy with all their separate activities. But they came anyway. He said the weekend had turned out to be so important to their family with time to share and play with each other. How do we live authentic lives with our families?
During our fall retreats, the parents gather for an hour devotion and discussion on Saturday morning. We talk about the importance of being authentic with each other and our children. This means sharing the good and the bad from our lives at an age- ppropriate level. All too often, we keep ourselves protected from one another. This does not mean pouring every detail from a struggle at work on your five-year-old. It may mean giving our five-year-old a hug and apologizing for getting angry when it had nothing to do with them.
I remember one time my father came home from work and was very angry. I am sure his perfect children had nothing were not doing a thing wrong (okay, maybe we did something). He came in the door, threw down his things, and yelled. We all froze and then reacted according to our personality. My oldest sister yelled back. My brother analyzed the situation, my other sister ran off, and I tried to bring everybody together. A little later in the evening, when I was in my room, dad came in and asked to talk to me. He said something very significant that I have not forgotten. He said, “I am sorry for getting so angry. I had a hard day at work. Will you forgive me?” Dad asked me to forgive him.
Jesus modeled this authentic life with the way he related to his Father in heaven. He did not hide the fact he was struggling with the human desire to avoid the pain of the cross in the garden of Gethsemane. In Matthew 26:39, Jesus says to his Father, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Time after time, parents share how they desire this authenticity with their children, their spouse, and even their parents.
