Day 361 – No Spoiled Brats
Having a Heart in a Sometimes Heartless World
Having a Heart in a Sometimes Heartless World
Scripture focus: I'm not writing all this as a neighborhood scold just to make you feel rotten. I'm writing as a father to you, my children. I love you and want you to grow up well, not spoiled. There are a lot of people around who can't wait to tell you what you've done wrong, but there aren't many fathers willing to take the time and effort to help you grow up. It was as Jesus helped me proclaim God's Message to you that I became your father. I'm not, you know, asking you to do anything I'm not already doing myself. This is why I sent Timothy to you earlier. He is also my dear son, and true to the Master. He will refresh your memory on the instructions I regularly give all the churches on the way of Christ. 1 Corinthians 4:14-17 The Message
…there aren’t many fathers willing to take the time and effort to help you grow up.
Bad dads, bad parents are easy targets. I must admit, some of the parenting stories I hear curl my hair and turn my stomach. We’ve discussed lots of things this year to help us heal from the wounding and offenses of poor parenting – even abusive parenting.
I don’t want to close out this year worrying about what went wrong (even though plenty has). I want us to think ahead. Just because some have not had the best parenting role models in the world – and others have had downright bad ones – doesn’t mean there is no hope.
We can become the kind of parent we wished for when we were kids. This is going to require hard work. We’re going to have to increase our consciousness of our own hurts, habits and hang-ups. Without intentionally working through the junk in our own trunk, we may be willing to improve as parents – but we wil lack some key abilities to follow through and actually accomplish that dream.
As we turn our attention to a New Year, I’m in an advice-giving mood. Please indulge me!
If I could offer one word of encouragement and comfort – it would be this – sometimes we don’t realize what we don’t know, recognize what we truly need, or possess the tools, techniques, and skills to live our big dreams. We must face these hard truths with courage.
Ultimately, recovery is always a God thing. May we all find the willingness, humility and courage to face our own limitations even as we rejoice in the complete sufficiency of Holy God.
Recommended reading: Zechariah 10 and 11 in the morning; Revelation 18 and Proverbs 31 in the evening
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