When our son was a young child he would do anything to “please” us. Quick to satisfy any request and never wanting to admit a forgotten chore or a bad test score, his heart was tender and we were his everything. I can still remember the tears welling up in his little eyes and how he would choke back the disappointment when scolded for not returning home on time or misplacing important school notices. However, even through the discipline, he always knew that he could find unending love in our arms.
Years later, as a teenager, things have changed a bit. A scolding is now met with a rebuttal and sometimes a roll of the eyes to express how “unreasonable” we are as parents. While a sweet spirit is still present within him, “push back” seems to be the motto for this teenagers’ existence. As parents, we wish he would just trust us. Our intent is always the same – for the best things in life and avoidance of the painful pitfalls that we know await him just around so many corners of his vulnerable life. We can’t help but wonder – why is he so blind to our wisdom and expert advice? Doesn’t he know the trouble we can help him to avoid?
Free At Last?
As adults, apart from our earthly parents’ direction and control, it is easy to think that we are ready to call all the shots in our own life. Free at last, indeed. Free from the scrutiny of parents, free from the endless list of rules and boundaries, free to make decisions based on how we feel. Free to be happy. Or, so it seems for the first few days, months, or maybe years. Until one day, it hits you. Your parents were actually very smart people!
As I was reading the book of Proverbs and pondering its wisdom, it struck me like never before. Why would I ever dispute or reject any advice from my Father God? Why would I stray from the gems of wisdom that have withstood the test of time for thousands of years? I know God’s intent for my life – He only wants the best for me. I know this now. I wish I knew it all along….it could have saved me from many painful experiences along the way.
God Opens Our Eyes
However, God’s way is to reveal the truth to his children over time, one step at a time, as we trust in Him. With each step we take towards Him, more is revealed. (Have you ever read the same bible verse and suddenly see what you didn’t see the ten times you read it before?) God opens our eyes and helps us to understand his Word as we trust and return to Him. He wants us back, in a child-like state, where we are quick to want to please Him, when we choke back our disappointment if we realize that we’ve let Him down in some way, and where we lean on him in troubled times. He wants to be our “everything”.
I realize now that a parent-child relationship is an important way that God prepares us to trust Him as an adult. A parents’ love is just a “preview” of what awaits a born-again Christian. Return to Him with the heart of a child and God will keep giving you great advice and His love will be unending.
He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 18:2-4
Story submitted by: Sherrie Coronas
