Adopted for a Higher Calling

“Sumping, is that how you say it?” my youngest daughter asked in her ever fading young vocabulary. She giggled trying to say the word correctly but realizing it wasn’t right. “Sound it out” I replied. “Some-ping” she reiterated with a belly laugh. “It’s a TH sound” I said trying to help her discover the correct way to pronounce it. “Something! Oh, got it!!” she shouted. “Perfect, now what were you trying to ask?” I enquired. “Are we just going to the park or are we doing someping else…I mean some-thing else?” she laughed.

I so love this age. They say that between four and five, children begin to discover their individuality. There’s a sort of detaching from mom to discover they are indeed autonomous with a will to make choices and decisions all their own. Of course, this is an ever-progressive process until we finally cut them loose at eighteen to venture into a world of their own making, both with its joys and heartaches. I remember each of our four kids going through this important first phase. They begin to ask even more questions, push boundaries and explore the space around them with bright eyed vigor. Our youngest seems to be a bit ahead of the game. I think it comes from having three older siblings and an exceptionally inquisitive mind. Of course, it might be I’m simply able to spend more time with our kids these days and so have moments to take it all in. 

What loving parent, after their children are fully grown, laments spending less time at the office or not indulging alternative pursuits while their kids were still at home? On the contrary, there’s often a nostalgia for their younger days. A wishing to go back and relive tender moments, proud achievements and fun summers long past. We only have them for a short while and then the Abrahamic moment comes when we are bid to give our Isaac’s back to God. This process is natural, normal and a holy one to be sure. There’s a letting go process which is required of every parent. However, I think few of us realize these steps should begin long before graduation day.

So many of us choose to have kids for misguided reasons. Some believe it a biblical mandate to spawn as much as possible, while others seek the attention derived from having little babies about. Regardless of the motivation, the children we bring into this world are ours only to relinquish every moment of every day. Christ came into this world for one purpose, to lose it all for our sake. Our children are not our own but have a Heavenly Father who desperately demands them back. As Christians, we signed a parental agreement as it were, to love, nurture and raise our children as if they were indeed not our own. However, this remains much harder than I think most of us bargained for. We want our kids to be healthy, well balanced adults, but often refuse to enquire of their real Heavenly Father how we should go about raising them.

A few months ago, my family and I visited Cape Canaveral to observe the NASA launch site, museum and all things space travel. It was a typical busy day with hordes of public-school kids of all ages crawling about the place. I seldom get the chance to observe todays’ youth in action and this awarded an unavoidable opportunity to do so. The older students, in their final years of high school, appeared to behave and carry themselves much as you might expect from extremely younger kids. Overhearing conversations or the lack thereof, got me thinking of how our modern society so egregiously ill equips tomorrow’s adults. Young girls are taught to behave well above their sexual maturity, while young men are feminized and instructed to stay little boys enthralled with childish things. This was painfully apparent as we made our way through the exhibits. Clusters of children huddled together, each with a cell phone in face, oblivious to each other, the tour guide, or the attractions on display. It all seemed such a huge waste.

Every generation believes the incumbent worse off. It’s an inherent byproduct of experience and maturity. We’ve seen the world and learned a thing or two which makes it much easier to rightly criticize. However, the gospel has remained the same for more than two thousand years. Every generation received the same biblical parental guidance as the next. As the apostle Paul stated, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” If we believe this to be true for ourselves as disciples of Christ, how much more for our children. If we sincerely wish to see our kids mature into useful vessels for God’s holy purpose, we should practice letting go a little more each day. This should start from the moment we hold them in our arms to the day we walk them down the aisle. Teaching them by example what it means to lay down our lives for our mutual Father in Heaven. After all, when we finally reach that glorious throne, there will be no fathers or mothers, but only children of God, Holy and perfected in His presence.

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (ESV)

Our children will go places we could only dream about. They will make mistakes, blunders, and decisions we wish they would have avoided. We will watch as they welcome another generation into this world. Yet, we will pray with all our might that we passed on something useful for the kingdom. Enjoy your children while you can. Teach them the way they should go. Lead by example each day and always remember they are only yours on loan, adopted for a much higher calling.