The A List

Earlier this week awards were handed out to actors and actresses, directors and producers, these so-called A Listers who are famous for their movies.  They walked down a red carpet, were photographed over and over, and were watched on television by millions of Americans.  Some of them received the coveted Oscar statue.  Since that awards ceremony, these A List individuals have either been lauded or scorned for their fashion choices, their hairstyles, and their acting abilities, or lack thereof.  It's all part of being on the A List.

I have an A List of a different sort.  It has nothing to do with celebrities, but everything to do with priorities.  Some time ago I compiled this A List of things I am praying for my sons and for their families.  These are my priorities for these dear ones who are so precious to me.

Their health is important to me, but it didn't make the list.  Financial freedom is important, but not a priority.  Many of the things the world might consider most important in life are not on this list.

I compiled this list with a different set of priorities than what the world might consider important.  This list of mine is about the things I consider of most value in their lives. 

My A List, the list of things I consider most important as I pray for my children, is this:

• a passionate love for God and His Holy Word
• an awareness of God's grace
• to know the life and power of God's Word in a real and personal way
• to love others and treat them with kindness and respect
• to be reflections of God's glory
• to glorify God with their lives
• to follow hard after God

That's my A List.  What's on your list?

"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."  (Philippians 3:7-8 NASB)