We moms can learn from our everyday circumstances as we come alongside our children in relationship and love. A few years ago I read a series of children's stories called Frog and Toad with my little ones.
In one of the books, Frog (or Toad, I can't remember which one) planted a garden and then fretted over it. He nearly drove himself crazy trying to make those seeds he had planted grow. It was so futile. He could have been enjoying tending his garden instead of fretting over its growth. It was not his responsibility to grow the seeds, only to water them and keep the soil weed-free and protected from damaging influences. At the time, his fretting paralleled what the Lord was teaching me about walking by faith. I needed to carry out my responsibilities of proactive parenting with grace and in the Spirit, but I could not produce the fruit. As I continue to water, weed, and protect the garden of my children’s hearts from damaging influences, I believe by faith that He will grow. To God be the glory! I can just see Frog or Toad digging up the seeds, checking if they’re growing or not, or stomping on the soil when they see it cracking open, killing the seeds in their process of worrying and fretting and not understanding God’s ways.
Sometimes a mother’s worrying and fretting kills the sprouting seeds as well. If she does not know her God and His ways because she is not grounded in sound doctrine or doesn’t experience His love for her, she will not have the eyes to see His Hand through her children’s or her own growth processes. Yes, we do have a responsibility to cooperate with the Lord, and we must not neglect those responsibilities or assume someone else is carrying those out in our place. But we also must be discerning as to what is really our responsibility (abiding in Him while parenting proactively, for example) and what is God’s (the work of His Spirit to transform our children and us). Return to the Table of Contents
In 2003, my five-year-old daughter was learning to read. Because she really wanted to read, the process of teaching her to read was enjoyable for both of us.
This process of learning to read didn’t occur in one sitting. Rather, she indicated to me her desire to read just by asking me to teach her. I love her! Of course I wanted to come alongside her through this process of growth, just like
If my daughter would have started stomping around in a tantrum through this process because she couldn’t read on the first day, I would have had to abandon the reading for a while to train her character. She didn’t stomp around, however. Because she trusted with child-like faith that I was going to teach her all she needed to know about reading, in the timing that would benefit her, she sat quietly with me and read what she could while we enjoyed each other's company. We both grew in relationship and love for the other. We moms need this kind of child-like faith to trust that God will lead us through the process of growth in whatever He deems necessary to teach us at the moment. We simply need to enjoy the process a little more instead of fretting and trying to force growth in microwave timing when growth is a crock-pot process.
the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
My daughter, who was 14 at the time, wrote an article about being sure that the seeds we’re planting are actually seeds that will bear the fruit we want. You can read that article here.
Parenting Overview Introduction
Return to Christian Parenting Articles Page
|
