Praise the
Lord for
God-Induced
Amnesia
By Todd Wilson
I love this time of
year. I love the smells,
sounds, and memories
it brings. Maybe it has
to do with cool
evenings, warm fires,
and the wonder of the h oliday season . . .
but for whatever reason, this time of year
draws families together and deposits
bucket loads of memories in our children’s
hearts—that is, if I don’t ruin the memories
before they get deposited, which I have a
tendency to do.
You see, I have gobs of fond memories
from my own childhood: carving pumpkins, crisp autumn days, and cutting and
decorating our family Christmas tree, but
somehow when I attempt these things with
my family, I end up ruining everything.
Oh, I try though. I get the pumpkins and
then holler at them for throwing the
“innards” on each other. We go to fall festi-
vals, but I get annoyed at their whining and
complaining. Every year I anticipate the
big day of cutting down the Wilson
Christmas tree, but by the time we get
around to decorating it, my wife is barely
speaking to me because I’ve been so
snappy while setting it up.
But here’s the kicker—my children
don’t and won’t remember any of the ugly
parts. That, my fellow mom and dad, is one
of the greatest gifts from God . . . it’s like
some sort of God-induced amnesia. We
mess up, but our children don’t remember.
Thirty years from now when they’re
running all the “special” events with their
families, they’ll think, “But it was so much
fun when I did it with my mom and dad.”
So go ahead and carve pumpkins, play
in the leaves, and cut down your own
Christmas tree, but don’t be too hard on
yourself if things don’t go as planned,
because even if you ruin the moment, your
kids won’t remember that. But they’ll
always remember how much you love
them. You can thank God for that.
Todd Wilson, “The Familyman,” author of
Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe,
Help! I’m Married to a Homeschooling
Mom, and The Official Book of
Homeschooling Cartoons, is a dad,
writer, conference speaker, and former
pastor. Todd’s humor and gut-honest real-ness have made him a favorite speaker at
homeschool conventions across the
country and a guest on Focus on the
Family. Todd and his wife Debbie homeschool their eight children in northern
Indiana when they’re not traveling around
the country encouraging moms and dads.
You can visit Familyman Ministries at
www.familymanweb.com.
