One Moment at a TimeSample

Look into your child's eyes and listen.

The other day I noticed how often I was doing other things while my daughter was talking to me. 

It’s such a simple thing—to look into our kids’ eyes—but how often do we do that? 

I stopped myself and looked into her eyes as she talked to me. What a difference it made! She felt like what she said mattered. That she mattered. Just because I looked at her when she spoke to me. 

All throughout the gospels, Jesus took time for people. He was always very present with them. 

When the desperate, bleeding woman in Luke 8 needed to be healed by Jesus, she thought it was enough to touch his cloak. But that wasn’t enough for Jesus.

He cared about her and wanted to actually see her, not just heal her.

Jesus took time for what mattered.

Ten years from now, what will have lasting significance? What will we have wanted to invest our time in?

If we want our kids to care about what we say when they’re older, we need to care about what they say when they’re younger. 

I know as mamas we have a lot on our plates, and it’s totally okay if we can’t listen to our kids in that moment. We can tell them that in five minutes—or however long it is—we’d love to hear what they have to say. Building patience in our kids is a good thing.  

Having them wait for your full attention is far more valuable than half-listening to them right then and there. When you are ready to listen, stop what you’re doing, look into your child’s eyes, and be completely present, like Jesus is for us.

If we can do this one moment at a time, before we know it, we’ll be in a habit of listening to our kids, showing them we care, and loving them like Jesus loves us.

One-Day Goal: Look into your kids’ eyes when they talk to you and really listen to them.