Make Joy The Family Legacy

What if the story your family tells about you someday isn’t about what you fixed, what you enforced, or what you worried about, but about how safe and joyful it felt to be with you? We’re reflecting on a simple decision with big impact: moving closer to our children and grandchildren so we can spend real time together, laugh more often, and build new memories that actually last.

We also get honest about parenting regrets and the times we’ve “aggravated” our kids instead of filling the home with joy. From a Christian devotional perspective, John 15:11 points to the source: Jesus wants His joy in us, and our joy made full. When that joy overflows, the people closest to us benefit first. Before you move on with your day, ask yourself: what’s one simple, doable plan you can make this week that brings laughter to your family?

Transcript

Moving Closer To Family

A Surprise That Became A Memory

What Your Family Will Remember

Joy That Overflows From Jesus

Make Fun Now And Bless Them

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mack. 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 were finding it getting more and more difficult to spend time with our children and our grandchildren. So that along with a few other things helped 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 I think it's great. 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 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. 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. So 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 Mack.