Rob Witham

I took my lunch in a small roadside park today. This park sits higher than the city and offers a panoramic (if not particularly attractive) view of the city below. The setting brought back a childhood memory that I recall each time I stop and view a city from a hillside.

When I was young my father pastored a small church in Concord, NH. I still recall my father rising before dawn to go and pray at a favorite hillside overlook. As he sat in the dark and looked out over the lights of Concord my father would pray for the city he ministered in.

I recall several occasions where my brother and I would join him on his prayer trips. I don’t think either of us particularly enjoyed rising before dawn - we still don’t. Nor did we fully undertand the significance of what we were experiencing. We did enjoy spending time with our father being involved in something that seemed very important indeed.

The moral of my tale is simply this: Parents, you choose to bless or to curse your children many times each day. None of us has any idea what little thing our children will remember and be impacted by - whether for good or for bad. These events often seem insignificant at the time.

Let us then choose to make a habit of blessing those who follow with each opportunity we have.