Admittedly, when we first became parents, we were overwhelmed. Our circumstances at that time made it an even bigger transition and was peppered with enough "rough stuff" to make even the most laid- back person feel flustered and anxious.
In short, we were extremely selfish. Tee was not planned by us (but by God), and we were holding onto our wants and the lifestyle we thought we should have. We were not seeking to please God or to even see how God was going to use this little boy to make us rely on Him. We were poster adults for pleasing ourselves.
We still wrestle with selfishness daily, but we are learning that life is not about us. Life is about glorifying and honoring God in all of your earthly roles (including parenting). We have not grown dull or boring, nor morphed into being someone else, but our priorities have shifted, slightly, to now include a little person. We still do the things we like to do, but scaled down to accommodate that little person, since babysitters nor grandparents are readily available. If we talk about kids stuff it's because we are elbow deep in it, and gaining another persons perspective is generally helpful (it does take a village) or we genuinely want to share our offspring's latest accomplishments.
Our responsibilities have also grown not only to include another humans physical needs, but now we are going to be held accountable for Tee's (and any other potential children) spiritual well being.
Being the best parents we can be with wisdom from God and other godly people, while keeping all other things in perspective and glorifying God along the way, is what it's all about.
If parenting our child(ren) so that they grow to know and serve the Lord whole heartedly, makes us seem temporarily dull and boring, I guess we'll be dull and boring to the glory of God.
I'll leave you with an oldie picture of Tee, just 8 days old.
2 comments:
Good reflection and thoughts on parenting, though a little dull and boring. Figures;-). You are awesome, friend!! How you doing? I've thrown the running towel in again and have a knee appointment on Tuesday.
well said, jen. i think being a parent will put me on a different playing field than my friends who are not moms and I'm a little worried about how that will change my life (in a totally selfish way), but i'm excited to join your club and learn how to praise god while obeying the call He's blessing me with.
Post a Comment