Parents, we are planting seeds in our children every day of their lives. The harvest will come, but we just don’t know when. Sometimes is shows up quickly (crawling, talking, walking). Sometimes the harvest of talents or values does not come until well after children leave home. So, from age 0 to 18, our job is to plant many seeds and nurture what we can to “fill them up” so that when our kids start their our journey, they don’t start on empty.
In all challenging days of meal-making, carpool, after-school practices, homework, weekend games, dance recitals, competitions, online meetings, working overtime, home improvement repairs, and trips to the market, I hope we can enjoy pieces of the parenting adventure. It is hard. And it takes intentionality to look for the joy.
In our current culture of parenting, we are seeing some of the negative effects of indulgent-parenting and over-parenting. As parents have tried to help and protect out of love, they have enabled their children to become helpless, irresponsible, and narcissistic. Our children need consistent boundaries and discipline that match their maturity and responsibility.
God’s love does not keep us from trials, but His love sees us through them.
