"Dual Citizenship?"

Last week I read an article that talked about how we are raising our kids, as a society.  The author asked what your mission statement was for raising your kids.  Uhhh, mission statement?  For my kids?  Yeah, haven't thought about it.  He suggested that most modern parents would respond with some variation of "I want them to be happy and successful adults."  Then he pointed out that until sometime in the 1960's the answer would have been more along the lines of "Good Citizen."  He suggested that this was a better answer. 

I can see his point.  I want my kids to be good citizens, that pretty much includes happy and successful.  But you can't be happy or successful if you're you know, in jail, or constantly in trouble with people because you were never taught how to properly interact with society. 

All that to say that I have been mulling over that thought all week.  I think that as a Christian we have an even more daunting task when raising our kids.  We need to help them, and teach them how to become good citizens of two nations.  This temporal earthly one we live in, but also the kingdom of Heaven.  That one is even more important. 

So this morning, faced with the reality that I have to teach my kids a sort of "dual citizenship" my prayer became "Lord, give me strength, grace, and wisdom as I teach my children what it is to be a citizen of heaven here, on earth."