A Tale of Two– Have you heard this one on parenting? When you have one child it is tag team, when you have two children it is man to man defense and when you get to three children it is zone defense!! It is easy as a parent to look at two children and see them just as opposites. When I had our third child and it was a boy, I slowly realized that it wasn’t so much about opposities as much as about being different. With each successive child I have been more and more amazed with how each was not just different but more so part of God’s plan to equip me, to mold me to move me into more of His Likeness.
Do you see the two pictures?? If these two girls had been my lead edge instead of the trail end, I am ashamed to think of how life would have looked like for both of them. One would have been cast in the role of the perfect and easy child and the other as the challenger… this isn’t to say that certain of our children don’t make life easier or harder on us: they do many times. I am humbled, however, by the reality that God does not cast us in these roles. His Love for us is not based on our behavior and conformity but on HIS overwhelming, unconditional Grace and Mercy. This compels me to consider. To consider that each of these two… need me… whether they are naughty or nice, neat or a mess, to love them, to give them approval, and to be willing to look below the surface to the issues of the heart… The reality may be that the picture to the right more accurately reflects the reality of the heart than the picture on the left anyway. Vive la difference.