Parenting and Responsibility In Our Christian School

I took a picture of this sign on a family camping trip this past summer. There is a touch of humour in the large ominous font, since it would seem that the message is implied and shouldn’t need to be stated. Of course they are our responsibility! We meet the weight of that responsibility every day. Their appetite causes them to eat us out of house and home, they go through clothing faster than we can find the next size, their choices bring us joy and frustration – sometimes immediately following each other. We have hundreds of pictures of moments when smiles of contentment make it seem all is well, but we also know clouds of deep worry, doubt, or even fear are part of being a parent. Parenting is anything but simple, easy, and guaranteed.

As a father, four times I have had the immense joy of receiving in my arms God’s gift of a fresh newborn wrapped up in a hospital blanket staring out at a wide new world. What precious moments those were! Deep longing had met deep love at the sight of a person so new and so beautiful. With toes and fingers all counted, life seemed wonderfully simple and absolute clarity was felt about what really mattered, and where to invest in their future. Lofty goals and dreams were easy to make, genuine as they were wrapped up in the moment. I always felt “…and God wants me to be in charge of all of this?”

Fast forward to the complexities of a school-aged child and what it takes to nurture, guide, inspire, admonish, instruct, and discipline. No preset path or child-specific owner’s manual was provided! The immensity of the task of parenting is daunting when we meet the unique nature of each individual child and the ever changing world they live in, even more so when we consider their future in it.

Parenting is no easy street, holy work that it is as we watch newborns becomes adults in twenty years. I’m grateful for Christian Education as one of the voices in our children’s lives, rounding out the efforts of a Christian home and Christian church. I continue to be delighted at seeing the impact that three can make together. May the Lord guide our efforts and lead our children through us, and sometimes in spite of us. 

SJ