Teenage fields and buildings

I have been musing about what it means to be a parent as my eldest approaches high school graduation and my second child and first son begins to push the limits of childhood restraints, to question whether his parents are always wise and good.

I, of course, know his parents are not always wise or good. I have not tried to keep that secret from him, but I have certainly enjoyed the natural trust that well-loved children place in their parents. I have been living in some trepidation for years, awaiting the moment when my children begin to see me not as the all-knowing, all-powerful parent, but as another fallible human being who muddles through as best she can. I know how often my motives are mixed and my wisdom is suspect. They are beginning to find me out!

I took great comfort from II Corinthians this morning - chapters 3 and 4. Writing to his spiritual children, Paul explains that,

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything,

but only God, who makes things grow.

For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building

I am not ultimately the one responsible for my children's growth. They are God's fields, God's buildings. I planted many seeds, which have been and will be watered by others - friends, teachers, pastors, youth leaders, relatives. What God requires of me is not a small thing, but it is, at least, within my control.

Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must

prove faithful.

I care very little if I am judged by you

or by any human court;

Indeed, I do not even judge mysylf.

My true judge is God, not my culture, not my children, not myself. I ask that He will purify my motives, enable me to be faithful, and help me to leave to him the crops that will grow from the seeds I have planted, the buildings that will rise upon the foundation I have laid.

To Him be all the glory.