“Look far enough ahead”.

I love the wisdom in this short quote.

So many times we make decisions for now that sometimes we would make differently if we looked far enough ahead.

This past month we have been talking about decision making during Family Night. I finished reading “The Entitlement Trap” by Linda and Richard Eyre a little while ago and was struck by the section on decision making.

Our children make many decisions that affect the rest of their entire lives when they are in only their second decade of life. These decisions affect the next 6 to 7 decades! We must try to help them make the wisest decisions since they really don’t have all the wisdom they need when they are only in their second decade.

There are decisions that they can make upfront about their future – things like “I will complete school” or “I will never cheat on a test” or other decisions that work towards developing certain character traits. Making decisions ahead of time often makes it easier for them to stay focused on what is important – keep their eye on the end result – and not just fly by the seat of their pants for everything – especially when there are life long consequences!

They really do need to be looking far enough ahead in the future in little decisions that they make now. And if they need to be, that means we need to be helping them do this. Gabe was talking about high school and how he didn’t want to take French. However, he wants to be a pilot. Not having French may limit him later on, so he is now rethinking his decision. Of course, we could just step in and insist he take certain subjects, but we want him to make choices on his own…that requires thinking far enough ahead.

It certainly is a fine balance between being in the present and looking far enough ahead – but both are really important.