Parents are Like the Little Engine That Could
Life’s episodic deserts, jungles, and mountain peaks provide us with moments of defeat and victory. Our Adolescent Story may have chapters of disappointment. Our Young Adult Story may be like a meandering river. Becoming a person of faith is undoubtedly the epiphany of Our Life Story. We hope and pray that this gut-wrenching, nail-biting drama called Life ends well for all involved.
[image error]
In terms of parenting, no matter how many books we read, friends we meet for coffee, or how much babysitting we did as teens, we are never adequately advised and prepared for the drama that unfolds once that first child comes into our home. The blessed Parent Story! What a surprise when we feel the love overflow as we gaze, cuddle a helpless newborn, or feel the hand clutch from a newly adopted child! Children are wonderful. We can give them wonder-filled lives. Sure, our best efforts are sometimes ineffectual. However, we keep trying. Our hearts incessantly burn with an inexplicable love for our children. Yet, sometimes in our responses and reactions, we don’t love well. Our own humanity will look uglier than we ever knew it could be.
[image error]
Allowing ourselves to be changed by this journey is worth it. Like the scripture says, our latter will be better than our past. (Revelation 21: 4)
Time to Plant a Fruit Tree
Let’s embrace the rigors of personal transformation and be grateful that our little mirrors make us self-aware. If we refrain from guilt and self-condemnation, we can allow our child-rearing episodes to serve as opportunities to be molded by the hand of our loving Creator.
(Excerpt from Cultivating the Souls of Parents. Release Date coming soon.)
[image error]
[image error]
I’m excited to release the first book in my Cultivating Series soon. Woohoo! It’s been a loonngg process. God wanted this book to simmer for a few years. He does that in many areas of our lives doesn’t He? The blessing is that those who eat benefit from a perfectly finished product! I look forward to sharing more excerpts in the weeks to come. 
