(This post was written by Chuck Carringer, Pastor of Family Ministries)

Do you enjoy musicals and theatrical productions?  As part of the audience you see what happens on stage. The production on stage occurs after many rehearsals and is designed, even choreographed, to be viewed by others. However, if you are in the production you have access to backstage. Backstage is where the real action occurs. Backstage is energy packed, intense, and an atmosphere often cluttered with props and tools. People scurry around while receiving instructions and assistance. Backstage is the participant’s world where the polished production on stage is for the audience.

In some ways our family life can follow this same model. The world sees what we want them to see, our production. Our real family life is happening backstage – in our homes. Our real family relationships, climate of our homes and what we really model as parents is happening backstage. Parents, our kids will be much more impacted by our backstage living than from our production. Even when our production for the world is practiced and polished, our kids have backstage access. They know the real us. In fact, it is the real us and that is their model. When our kids think of Dad and Mom they don’t think of our performances, they connect to who we are backstage.  Family life, marriage, and parenting are all backstage activities. The people that matter most are in those moments with us. Let’s focus on what we are doing backstage and not on the production for the world.

Are you focused on backstage living?