A Good Gut Check

It’s on us.

About a year ago, a colleague and I were creating a resource to empower parents to take the Sunday Message and apply it to their family life.

As we were creating this resource, we were convinced that we had to figure out the why. We knew that for families, ours included, to really own this and do this on a weekly and more importantly daily basis, we needed to figure out the why.

As we were figuring out the why, a phrase came to us. “It’s on us.” Oomph, what a gut check, or at least it was for me. The reality is, whether I always want to admit it or not, is that the responsibility of raising my son is on my wife and me.

No one else is ultimately responsible for raising my son with the character and tools to choose to be a virtuous and good man. Not the private school that we send him to. Not his teachers. Not his coaches. Not his youth group leaders. Us, my wife and I, that’s who is ultimately responsible.

Now that doesn’t mean that those forementioned people/groups can’t help. I believe that they do help, hence why we have made investments in those areas to help us raise our son to be a man of character. But it always comes back to my wife and I.

To be completely honest, there are days that I don’t want to do that work. Sometimes those days pile up to weeks, and maybe even months. It’s so easy to say, “well I did my job, I got those people into my son’s life.” But the truth, the gut check truth, that I don’t always want to admit is, “it’s on us”.

So, what about you? How does this impact you? What parenting changes do you need to make?

Here’s the beautiful thing. Even when we keep messing this parenting thing up, we keep having second chances. A chance to start again.

So, no matter where you are today, remember as parents, “it’s on us.” You got it, let’s rock this parenting thing out.

Mike VanDrie

Director of Student Ministries

Providence Church