Starting Right
Starting Right is a 5 minute Day Starter to help keep you motivated, encouraged, and focused throughout your day. DannyMac is a pastor, teacher, motivational speaker, husband, and father. His years of leading and training people have given him vast experience in helping individuals to accomplish change in their lives and meet their goals. He can help you set the course for your day by offering practical advice from God's Word in a positive and fun way. There is no better way to begin your day than by Starting Right with DannyMac.
Starting Right
What Will They Remember When You're Gone?
What will your family remember about you when you're gone? Will they recall someone obsessed with turning off lights and maintaining the lawn, or will they reminisce about a person who made life wonderfully fun? This thought-provoking question emerges from today's reflection on the power of creating meaningful family memories.
I share the story of a father who went to extraordinary lengths to surprise his family during their cross-country camping trip. By hitchhiking on the side of the road at the Great Divide, knowing exactly when his family would drive by, he created an unforgettable moment of joy and astonishment for his wife and children. His motivation? "Someday I'm going to be dead, and when that happens, I want my kids and wife to say, 'You know, dad was a lot of fun.'"
Rather than dwelling on past parenting mistakes, today's encouragement focuses on seizing present opportunities to bring unexpected moments of fun and happiness into our families' lives. What could you plan this week that would bring smiles and create lasting memories with your loved ones?
Join me tomorrow as we continue finding ways to start each day right.
Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mac. I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great five-minute start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back, relax and let me help you start your day right. My wife and I used to live in an area that was absolutely beautiful In fact, it's called one of the most beautiful places in British Columbia. We enjoyed it there. We really did. We had some good friends there, but we would find it getting more and more difficult to spend time with our children and our grandchildren. So that, along with a few other things, made us decide that we wanted to move closer to them, and so we did, and I'm really glad we did. We get to spend time with our kids, we get to laugh and play with our grandchildren, and we see all of them almost every week. It's just really been good that way and we've been able to make some new memories, some really important new memories, and I've realized that making memories with your family is not only an important thing to do, it's also a whole lot of fun. I've enjoyed it so much To be able to do something with them, especially if it's something different or maybe even unexpected. Those are the things that make some of the greatest memories. I recently read a really good story from Bruce Larson that talked about making one of those unusual kind of memories. I just want to share it with you today because I think it's great.
Speaker 1:He said a few years ago he was planning a vacation for his wife and children. He wasn't going to be able to go because of business, so he helped them plan every day of a very special camping trip that would take them all the way from Montgomery, alabama, to California, up and down the West Coast and then back home again. He knew exactly where they were going and the precise time they would be crossing the Great Divide. So, unbeknownst to his family, he arranged to fly himself out to the nearest airport and hire a car and a driver to take him to the very place where every car must pass. He then sat by the side of the road and he waited Actually, he waited several hours for the sight of that familiar family station wagon and when it came into view he stepped out in the road and stuck out his thumb like he was hitchhiking. His family, of course, recognized him and they almost drove completely off the road. When they saw him, they were so excited to see him. A friend later asked him why he went to all that trouble to put that together and to do it in secret. He said well, someday I'm going to be dead, and when that happens I want my kids and wife to say you know, dad was a lot of fun. Here's a man whose whole game plan is to make fun and happiness for his family. That makes all of us wonder what our family will remember about us when we're gone. Maybe they'll say well, dad was a nice guy, but he worried a lot about turning the lights off and closing the windows and mowing the lawn and picking up around the house. I think most of us, though, would like to hear them say that Dad was the guy who made life a whole lot of fun.
Speaker 1:As I get older, I look back at being a parent and being a father. I see times where I went against the scripture that says do not aggravate your children. I broke that rule too often. What I really should have been and done is be the one that brings joy in the house, if we are able to fully embrace the things that Jesus has taught and live the life that he has for us, we will be full of joy and we won't be able to hold it in. We won't be able to not show joy to the people around us. In John, chapter 15 and verse 11, jesus is teaching, and he says these things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. When our joy is full, it overflows to those who are around us, and those who are the closest get the most benefit of it, and that's the kind of joy that we want and need to share with our families.
Speaker 1:So my encouragement for you this morning is to look at the opportunities that you have right now. Don't worry about the past. Don't worry about the mistakes that you've made or the things that you think you did wrong in raising your kids, but look at where you are now and how can you bring some fun into their lives. What can you do right now that may be unexpected, that will cause them to laugh and to have some fun and want to enjoy being with you. I hope you have a great day, my friends. I hope you choose to have some fun with your family this week. Plan it, work it out, do it and let God bless them through you, and then you will be blessed too. Have a great day, my friends. We will talk again tomorrow. Thank you for listening today, and I invite you to join me Monday to Friday, right here on Starting Right with Danny Mac.
