THE RACE – Are We Crippling or Equipping?

Welcome Back, my precious sister-in-law, Jill!

Isaiah 43:2 “WHEN you go through deep waters, I will be with you. WHEN you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. WHEN you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned…” 

    As we watch the fun of the Olympics, it’s neat to relate all of that hard work to the faith and trust required for a healthy Christian walk…or race!  For example, Michael Phelps’ coach Bowman states, “I’ve always tried to find ways to give him (Phelps) adversity in either meets or practice, and have him overcome it.”  What a great concept for physical training in preparing for the unexpected challenges that occur in a race!  It’s a lot like how our “Creator/Trainer” strengthens our HEARTS for the unexpected by teaching us to overcome adversity and to grow in faith.  We all know He walks with us through our fiery trials, yet He does not extinguish them for us, because He refines us and equips us through those fires! 

     What if we all used that same kind of concept on our kids – and let them learn how to “overcome adversity?”  Why not offer them that same privilege, to be refined through their fiery trials and walk with them, yet not extinguishing their fires for them?  We could better prepare them to become responsible, mature adults, instead of leading them to believe that life will revolve around them and they will always be rescued from their mistakes and choices. Do we ever want to hinder opportunities for growth in their lives?  

     Some of us, as parents, may give in to our kids’ whims and desires a little too frequently (when they don’t hear the word NO often enough), some of us may try to soften the blow or rescue them from the consequences of their bad choices (and they don’t get to learn the importance of making good ones), some of us may not even give consequences (ouch), and well, you get the picture.  Sadly, we do all of this with “good intentions” and all in the name of LOVE!?  But if we continue to show our LOVE to them in this stunting way, we end up crippling them instead of equipping them!  We might even LOVE them right into a cycle of continuous failures and a dependency on us that could last for the rest of their lives!  We can’t let it be our job to be their “Savior” - that position is already taken J  I fully understand we are ALL still learning as parents, but let’s learn from God’s example to us, and also learn from each other as parents, and make the learning process a little less painful, not only on us, but also on our world!  A quote that has stuck in my mind since I heard it is, “Instead of trying to make the world a better place for our KIDS, let’s try and make our kids better for this WORLD – and say NO to them every once in a while!”