It’s intriguing to reflect on the method in which progress is made in life’s journey.
The desire of many parents is to know that their children have confident independence. There’s the gradual push away from the attachment and dependence for food, shelter and nurture. There is a strengthening of bonds by that initial nurturing, but the idea is to reach a stage where the child can “stand on their own two feet” and even reach the stage where when the parents are advanced in age and potentially disadvantaged in body, the child who depended on them is the one they depend on.
The child grows to have an idea that what their parents have in terms of that independence is something worth desiring for themselves. The ability to get their own stuff and do their own thing in their own time is hugely alluring. Though they know that they cannot wander too far away from those who have brought them into the world, they still don’t want to be beholden as they reach a certain stage.
The heavenly Father encourages His children to grow up. He does not want them to remain in a childish state. He expects development and growth. That is not assessed, however, in how much that child can do their own thing without reference to Him. It’s measured in how that child’s trusting relationship with Him enables them to be faithful and fruitful to Him and for Him. It is measured by how much of the Father is more evident in the child. That growth and development enable the child to be instrumental in helping other children to likewise grow and develop. They support by their instruction and their example. Both of these refer to how the Father has revealed Himself through His Son by His Spirit so we no longer have to be left to our own destructive devices, but be brought to a right relationship with Him.
Growth is not measured by being less dependent on Him. The growth is seen by the greater and more assured dependence on Him. This is what faith cultivates.
That is seen in regularly coming to His Word and never taking it for granted. At every opportunity that His Word is opened, there is a call for His Spirit to lead and guide. There is a call for His Spirit to give understanding so that His message can come across and make the difference as we apply what He desires.
That approach affects all of life. No independence – but total dependence and all the more as we see the fruit of that dependence in a closer relationship with Him and the knowledge that flows from the closer relationship with Him. Not leaning on our own understanding even when it comes to the approach to work, to relationships, to finances. Not about how much smarter or better equipped I can do it without Him, but how much wiser and resourced I am to do it with Him, by Him and through Him.
It is not to say that the desire of the parent with the child at the start is wrong. It is to appreciate what more is done when the nurturing of the child is to display what life is like trusting in God. Putting that in a way where the children can then make an informed choice in the fullness of time as to how they will choose to live and how their life’s journey will proceed.
(Image from Pexels)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 