It’s been a real adventure raising 5 kids. We had Clint, our first, only a year into our marriage..and the parental learning process began. Parenting is one of the most challenging and rewarding things you’ll do in your life. We’ve enjoyed every minute of it even though there’s been plenty of things to work through with each of them. I will say, looking back, that the years of raising kids goes by incredibly fast.

We have thousands of great memories from those years. One of those memories is when we started praying before meals. We’d often take turns and let the kids if they were willing, pray a lot of the time. I’ll never forget how one of our boys, who was about three at the time, often prayed. I’d help him get started and then he’d take it from there. He had just a little lisp at the time and his prayer would go something like this: “God, Bleth Mom and Dad, Bleth my brotherth, bleth MeMaw and Papaw….and uh…..have a nithe day, God!” It was about the sweetest prayer you’ve ever heard. I can’t help but think the Lord, Himself, loved the prayer and especially the part where He was told to, “Have a nithe day.” He probably doesn’t hear that too often.

I was thinking about that recently and I made a little Top-10 list of the things that should help the Father to have a ‘nithe’ day: 

1. Get to know Him….No, I mean, really get to know Him! *He wants to be relational with you. Interact, and relate to Him as Father!
2. Receive His ‘gift’! *Salvation is free……Receive it!
3. Find your place/Discover your destiny! *You’ve been gifted so you can be a functional contributor to the Body of Christ. Get in the process of finding out how you’re gifted!
4. Gravitate into your ‘sonship’! *He has handpicked you to be His son/daughter. Make the most of it….and keep it simple!
5. Be ‘who’ you are! *There’s no one like you. Don’t try to be anyone else!
6. Use your faith! *Learn to be led by the Holy Spirit!
7. Get along! *Be a peacemaker! Dad’s love it when their kids get along!
8. Get back up! *Everybody gets knocked down….not everybody gets back up!
9. Be a ‘learner’! *It’s a lifetime endeavor. Make every day a day to learn!
10. Be ‘free’! Jesus died for us to be free; free from sin…free from the Law! Enjoy your freedom!

Don’t forget…..He’s already extremely proud of you and He wants to see you succeed in every area of your life! And, maybe sometime in your prayer time, you can even tell Him to “Have a nithe day”!

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