January 28: What the Kids Saw

You thought they were asleep. You thought they didn’t notice. They noticed.

Joel was writing to a land stripped bare by locusts. Swarm after swarm had eaten everything green. Years of crops were gone. And God made a remarkable promise: I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten.

Not just one harvest. The years.

For parents, one of the hardest parts of Step One is looking honestly at how drinking has touched the children. Maybe they’ve seen you angry, sick or asleep on the couch. Maybe they’ve made their own dinner. Maybe they’ve learned to read your mood the moment you walk in. Maybe they’ve covered for you. Even older children, grown and gone, often carry memories you’d rather they didn’t.

Looking at this hurts more than almost anything. Some parents can’t do it at first. The guilt is too heavy. Please be gentle with yourself as you begin. This isn’t meant to crush you. It’s meant to help you see why this matters so much, and why getting help is the most loving thing you can do for them.

Children don’t need a perfect parent. They need a present one, and an honest one. A parent who gets sober and stays sober, one day at a time, gives a child something rare: proof that people can change. That a broken thing can be mended. That God is real.

Many families find that kids respond well to simple, age-appropriate honesty. “I’ve had a problem with drinking. It’s not your fault. I’m getting help.” That last part matters. Children often secretly believe they caused it.

The locusts took real years. You can’t undo them. But God is in the business of restoring what was lost, sometimes in ways no one expects. The years ahead don’t have to look like the years behind.

One thing today

Spend fifteen sober, undistracted minutes with a child in your life today. Phone away. Let them choose what you do together.

A prayer

Lord, my drinking has hurt my children, and I can’t take it back. Restore what the locusts ate. Make me present for them, and heal what I damaged.

Families are part of the honest look of Step One.

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