Fear of Failure as Parents
By Chaplain Doug Samples
Don’t we all know those families
where all the children are all perfect?
Then there’s the rest of us!
The Bible was written for the rest of us!
One story in Luke 15 is about the Prodigal Son
that has some great lessons for us as parents.
Let me quickly hit the highlights.
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Release
Our parental instinct is to protect and shield our children.
But sometimes we have to release them to go off into the “far country.”
That doesn’t mean we quit praying for them!
But releasing them means trusting them into God’s care.
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Trust
The very best thing I can say for hurting/fearful parents today
is that no matter where your prodigal son/daughter goes
God is already there!
-
Patience
This is probably the hardest for me.
I don’t have a lot of patience.
I want my prayers answered in 5 days or less!
How many years had the father waited for his son?
How many days had the father stood on the front porch looking…
How many years have you waited?
Intellectually and theologically we know that God is not limited
by our days/months/years. But we/I get impatient!
We want things to happen right NOW!
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Forgiveness
The Good News is that God can take your children wherever they are…
whatever their sins… however much they have messed up their lives…
And give them a Fresh Start
to go with their Fresh Choice!
Now, I wish I could stop right here:
Release… Trust… Patient… Forgive…
And everybody lives happily ever after.
I wish I could tell you that if you do all the right things
all your children will come home!
But I can’t promise you that!
Even though we like to quote Proverbs 22:6
like it’s a spiritual guarantee,
(“Train up a child in the way they should go
and when they are old, they will not depart from it.”)
I have to be honest with you and say
that I know parents who have released and trusted and waited
and offered forgiveness to children who still. Have. Not. Come. Home!
You can do all the right things
and still get kicked in the teeth for it.
So then what do we do?
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Love!!!
While we are waiting for our prodigal son or prodigal daughter to come home
our only choice is to love them.
I am not suggesting that this is easy!
You surely don’t like what they are doing…
but you still choose to love them.
You DO realize don’t you that God lost His kids too!
Garden of Eden… Adam and Eve…
If anyone knew how to raise their kids right,
it would have been God!
But even God’s children chose to leave home
and go off into the far country!
And throughout the Old Testament,
we watch as God is
Releasing… Trusting… Being Patient… Forgiving…
All the way to the LOVE of Calvary’s Cross!
Our children may be away from our home
but they are not away from God’s presence!
Let’s trade prayers!
I will pray for your children
and you can pray for mine!
I invite you to use this form to share
your prayer request with me.
You are welcome to share
the names of your children with me
so I can include them in my prayers!
