What Do You Remember from Your Childhood?

I don't remember much from my childhood. 

Flipping through photo albums can help re-create the moments somewhat, but I don't "feel" a lot of the memories.

I do have some memories I feel. Some are very painful. Some are so painful I can acutely remember how my cheeks flushed hot with embarrassment and I can feel that lump in my throat and my desperation not to cry. I can remember exact expressions, words, the way someone was standing, the tone they used.

Some memories are very beautiful, holy, profound. I can remember the love and sacrifice to communicate that my life was valuable in that late night talk, the song being sung that pierced my soul with Truth, and the lamplight falling across Emberoks and my father's voice reading when all us nine crazy kids begged "just one more chapter please, Dad?...". 

But they are only moments that I remember. Mere minutes from all those years.   

I wonder: What will my children remember? 















That's why this book I've been reading, "Just a Minute", is changing the way I parent. It's changing the way I interact with other people's children. It's also changing the way I treat adults... because aren't we just those kids somehow grown up? When did we become the parents, teachers, role models? It happened so fast.



Wes Stafford uses the metaphor of a child's spirit being "a lot like wet cement or moist clay...". They are so impressionable, just waiting for an act of kindness or a word of encouragement. He writes "I have become convinced that if God stands a child before you, for even just a minute, it is a divine appointment." 

The book is perfect for anyone who wants to absorb deep truths but doesn't have the time or brainpower to delve into Ravi Zacharias' apologetics or George MacDonald's unspoken sermons. If I have to re-read something three times before I understand it, I will probably be asleep before I make it past a paragraph. This is just my "young mom" phase of life---someday I look forward to reading the thick books of the great thinkers but for now these short stories with powerful truths in "Just a Minute" are perfect for me.  

The stories are divided into seven different sections:

Section 1: A Moment for Rescue
Section 2: A Moment to Build Self-Worth
Section 3: A Moment to Form Character
Section 4: A Moment to Discover Talent
Section 5: A Moment to Awaken the Spirit
Section 6: A Moment to Stretch the Mind
Section 7: A Moment to Realize One's Calling 


Part of the back cover reads "Read on for story after powerful story of lives changed because someone took just a minute to really connect in the life of a child. Stay alert---you never know when your opportunity will come."

Let us be light and give hope and encouragement to every. single. person. we. meet.


"You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled."
~1 Thessalonians 5:5-6


What books have impacted the way you parent, treat children, treat adults? Please share in the comments!



**the links for the book are affiliate links. I only recommend books and products that I personally use and would love to give to each and every one of you.**