Adventures in Parenting

Daddy, I'm freezing

Daddy, I'm hungry

I have to go poop

I'm tired

Help me

Get me

Give me

Give me

Give me

NOW!

 

 

Parenting.  It is not an easy job.  The hours are long, the customers are demanding, and there is always something that needs to be done.  There are times when I feel like pulling my hair out before I even have a chance to get out of bed.  But I love them - and I would not trade a single second of the time I get to spend with my two beautiful kids.  I provide for my kids (sometimes with an exaggerated eye roll), then go onto my adult day.  Sometimes this adult day begins with a prayer, that often looks something like this:

 

Father, I need money

Father, I need guidance

I'm tired

Help me

Get me

Give me

Give me

Give me

NOW!

Amen

 

 



 

 

I have to admit, my prayers are often very much like the cries from my children.  I usually close my eyes and give god my wish list.  I remind God of those things that I've already told him I want and have not yet received, add a few other items to the list, then when everything is out I say amen, and go back to my world of selfish ambition.  My prayer time is not about cultivating relationship with my Father, it is about getting what is mine and moving on.  It is about voicing my fears, my wishes, and (what I perceive to be) my needs.

 

God loves us exactly where we are, but he also desires that we learn and grow - just like I want my children to mature and develop from immaturity into maturity.  I love the phases my kids are in, but I celebrate each baby step toward adulthood.  I look forward to the day when we can sit at a table as equals, and have a real substantial conversation.  And, I think that's a tiny glimpse of God's desire for us - will we ever be equals?  No, but we do not have to be perpetually stuck in toddlerhood.

 

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

    - 1 Corinthians 13:11

 

What does maturity in God look like?  I believe it is a picture of love.  When we move into maturity we are less concerned with ourselves, and more concerned with loving others.  We put our needs aside, and make others our priority.  We begin to be a reflection of the love that God offers us.  We accept people for who they are, and we love them without agenda - just like God loves us.

 

Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails ...

   - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

 

I have been working on moving away from acting like a child.  That I would move away from focusing on my desires, and into true relationship with this Love that is mine.

 

My prayer is that each of us would have the courage to move deeper into relationship with him.  There is risk involved in this because love is not easy, but it is good.  My kids will have to take risks to grow up - they will have their hearts broken, and they will earn their scars, but these growing pains are just part of the maturing process.  In the same way the spiritual life will result in pains and hurts, but they are necessary for maturity.  People will always let us down, and the more we make ourselves available to them, the more we open ourselves up to their hurts.  But, if we focus only on ourselves we cannot love others, if we do not make ourselves vulnerable we can never show God's love because he made himself ultimately vulnerable through Jesus.  Jesus loved us perfectly.  Think about what this looked like ... chew on it and let his example soak in.  This is what we are called to do - to love the world with all of our hearts, minds, and souls.  We cannot do this when we think as toddlers, so we must be willing to go through the maturing process in order to truly enter into the fullness of life that He has for us.