While working on the final proof for the manuscript of my first book soon to go to print, I was stunned by a sudden realization...allow me to backtrack a little as a means of providing a hint of context:
In my book, I've written and I quote: "By His (that's God's) grace we are totally acceptable as we are, and yet paradoxically He (that's God again) works to transform us into the person He created us to be."
I wrote that but until just now, I didn't connect the implication to my own parenting. As we all grow up not quite how we were designed to be........
.... then I realize, as though a neon sign suddenly appeared in front of me that, as a parent, I will never get it absolutely right because no matter what I say or do, I can never control how my child receives what I say or do. My aim has been to 'get it right', to enable my child to grow into the person he was created to be. But I realize now what was inevitable, which is that he won't. By his very human nature, he won't.
Oddly perhaps, I don't feel concerned for my son. I realize he will have to develop his own relationship with his Creator to discover the entire design. As for myself, I'm not sure whether to be relieved and think the pressure's off me, or to be dismayed that I should have been more relaxed about parenting from the outset.
Well, never mind for the moment: he's a good kid. And I love him and -- perhaps more important than anything else --he knows it too.
Incidentally, the above quote is taken from FREE TO BE: Defeating Insecurity, Transforming Relationships, Building Character -- and will soon be available to order via this site and elsewhere.
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