Children Don't Wait

-- by Helen M. Young

There is a time to hold my children close
and tell them the sweetest story ever told;
A time to show them God in earth and sky and flower,
to teach them to wonder and reverence.
There is a time to leave the dishes, to swing them in the yard;
To run a race, to draw a picture, to catch a butterfly,
to give them happy comradeship.
There is a time to point the way, to teach their infant lips to pray.
To teach their heart to love God's Word, to love God's day...
For children don't wait.

There is a time to treasure every fleeting moment of childhood,
Just eighteen precious years to inspire and train them.
I will not exchange this birthright for a mess of pottage called social position, business or professional reputation.
An hour of concern today may save years of heartache tomorrow.
The house will wait, the dishes will wait, the dust can wait,
But children don't wait.

There will be a time when there will be no slamming of doors, no toys on the stairs, no childhood quarrels, no fingerprints on the windows--
May I look back with joy and not regret.
There will be a time to concentrate on service outside my home,
On visiting the sick, the bereaved, the discouraged, the untaught...
To give myself to the "least of these."
There will be a time to look back and know that these years of motherhood were not wasted.
I pray there will be a time to see them honest and upright, loving God and serving all.

God, give me wisdom to see that today is my day with my children,
That there is no unimportant moment in their lives.
May I know that no career is so precious,
No other work so rewarding,
No other task so urgent--
May I not defer it or neglect it,
But by Thy Spirit accept it gladly, joyously--and by Thy grace realize
That the time is short and my time is now,
For children won't wait!