
There are lots of things I’ve learned about being a parent since Annie was born. For example, she has more energy than I ever will. She tests me to see how I’ll react when she disobeys. She asks me LOTS of questions. Along the way, I’ve come to appreciate my parents a lot more and what they went through raising me. Given that Bean’s due any day now (hopefully September 8th or so), I spend a lot more time reflecting on my priorities and trying to understand what God expects of me as a parent. I could quote most of the Bible verses about being a parent long before she was born and could still show off my mad Bible memorization skills if pressed today. The trouble is the Bible verse all parents learn as their first directive is pretty darn vague. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). What’s this “way he should go” stuff about? What’s this lack of departing promise? Don’t you want your kids to “depart” one day? Isn’t that why you train them anyway, to be independent and able to depart? I know, I know, that’s not what that verse is really about, but it brings up a good point – why is it so hard to be a parent and why didn‘t God give us such explicit instructions as to give us no excuse for screwing it all up? [Read more…]