Milestones & Moments
This one is for the parents.
Tonight’s program is built around the athletes. Their accomplishments, their milestones, the season they had. But nothing in this building tonight exists without what the people on this side of the room provided. I want to speak directly to you for a few minutes, because what you did deserves to be named.
Read this passage slowly.
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
3 John 1:4 — NIVLet that sit for a second before you move.
No greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. The joy that John describes is not about performance outcomes. It is about character — about the child who is living in alignment with what is true and good. That is the deeper hope of every parent who invests in a child’s athletic development: not primarily the scholarship or the record, but the person who emerges from the years of competition.
Parents: you gave something this season that your athlete could not have given themselves. The financial investment is the visible part. The emotional investment is harder to quantify. The year of attending practices and watching from the stands and processing the disappointments alongside your athlete and driving home in silence after the hard loss because you knew they needed space — all of that is part of what was given.
You are also, if your athlete has reached a certain point in their career, in the process of releasing. The athlete who is in college or beyond belongs to themselves in a way they didn’t when they were ten. The transfer of authority over their athletic career, their schedule, their choices — from parent to athlete to coach to the athlete again — has been happening for years. The parent who can release well, who can cheer fully and let the coaching staff do the coaching and trust that what was built in the formation years is holding — that parent gives their athlete something at this stage that control cannot give them: the confidence that the person who knows them best believes they are ready.
You raised someone worth watching. You should be proud of what you gave.
The parent who can release well gives their athlete something control cannot: the confidence that the person who knows them best believes they are ready.
Parents: what has this season required of you that last season didn’t? What are you releasing that was once yours to hold?
Addressed to parents. Let parents respond if the setting allows. Their answers often surprise the athletes in the room.
You gave something real. You should be proud of it. Thank you for being here.
This devotional breaks the normal pattern by addressing parents rather than athletes. Announce the shift clearly at the beginning.
For parents nights, family weekends, banquets where family members are present. Not for standard team gatherings.