By Karen Winkelman

 We lost perspective at our house last week.  Our four girls had a variety of issues and emotions we needed to deal with throughout the week.  By Thursday I was in tears and by Friday I thought I was going under.  Every female in the house had shed tears at some point during the week.  Somehow, I allowed myself to be pulled into their drama and took their challenges of my ability to parent to heart.  Everyone at our house suffered as a result.

 In the end, the school dance we were preparing for did not live up to its expectations.  A compromise made for a sleepover at a school friend’s party was not what was hoped for.  We said ‘yes’ to the party but ‘no’ to the sleepover.  Last minute plans to salvage a third daughter’s week required adjustments to our schedule.  Then our oldest daughter, who is out of the house and on her own, sent us an e-mail.  Apparently she has issues and drama in college as well!  Ugh!

 By the time the sun rose on Sunday it occurred to me that only heaven will meet or exceed our expectations completely.  How did the emotion and time spent over the last week help prepare us for eternity?  All the planning and preparing for a dance, a party, a sleepover, or a new relationship doesn’t keep us from being disappointed in that event or person in some way.  In the midst of these earthly preparations, I needed to focus on heavenly ones as well.  As a mom, I needed to point my girls’ focus upward—to keep us focused on what’s really important, not just caught up in the urgency of the moment.

 Jesus reminds us of something similar when He tells us to not lay up our treasures on earth, but lay up treasures in heaven.  My heart is for our children and myself to be developing treasures in the right place.  Manicures and pretty dresses have their place in our world, but relationships and wise choices have more significance for eternity.  When our household is caught up in a whirlwind of preparations and drama (and there’s bound to be a next time with this many girls and their hormones!), I hope I will keep my perspective on the eternal treasures we value most. 

 Lord, help me to keep my eyes fixed on You during these days my teenage daughters are in.  Give me Your eyes to see through the earthly treasures and their emptiness and show us all the way to building up our treasure with You.  Amen.