Conner completed middle school this week and soon he will be in high school. It is a well-worn cliché to say “they grow up so fast” but indeed it is true. In the grand scheme of my overall life the years we have with our son living with us are so incredibly limited. This home time is made even shorter with the ever busy schedule of a teenage boy and a dad working the grind of a busy career.

Funny thing, just last week I spoke to a group about finding success through managing priorities versus time and here I am struggling to do the same myself. I think it in reality takes daily effort and the openness to realize that everything in life is a season. Sometimes in the midst of all the madness we need to pause and see where time is going and where we are placing our priorities.

I know that in these next four years Conner will take the steps to fully head down the path of being a man. I also know that this is the time that we as parents will need to step more and more back and begin to fully let him find his own way. We will be there in the boundaries of his life with proactive advice and of course the occasional “I told you so”.

In our father-son relationship these four years also represent a critical point in time. We will in a way grow closer through the process of growing apart. It is my prayer that God will provide me with the wisdom and the courage I will need to be there for Conner. I want to be there not as is his friend but instead truly as his earthly father.

So bring it on high school! Hand in hand, heart to heart and with the Lord guiding us I know Michelle, Conner and I are in for a fantastic Journey.