I haven’t felt very profound lately. In fact my mind has felt quite dull. Guess it’s a good thing this is just a pastime and not a profession!
I was just preparing for work at the end of a long week, thinking of responsibilities that come with parenthood, to these kids that I call mine. Mine. I’m tired. I work hard to research the movies they watch, the school they go to, the books they read. It’s never-ending. And the thought that I felt Him whisper to my mind was “Yes they’re yours….so why would you trust this job to anyone else?”
Hmmm. Good point God. We are so quick to feel that [someone else] should have done their job and our kid would be better. Now before you think I’m being self-righteous, let’s fill in that [someone else] with the word “pastor” or “teacher” or “ex-spouse” or “grandparent” or “law enforcement” or “coach”….the list could go on and go on really. Basically there is a basic responsibility of a parent to raise a child, to pass on to them responsibilities and encourage them to progress to being a law-abiding adult that contributes in a good way to society. We introduce them to other adults as a means to assist in this process, bring balance. All good things. Until we feel like they can/should/by default (amount of time spent with them) have to replace us.
But these kids are mine. There is a line from a favorite movie of mine “Kate and Leopold” where a genteel man named Leopold from previous centuries finds himself in a time warp and comes to modern days; he discovers a young man trying to woo a young woman by being modern…ie being crass. The woman finds herself instead responding to Leopold’s understated charm…he in-turn is able to pass her phone number off to the young man. Young man is excited, says something to the tune of “If I call her now, she won’t be home and I can leave a message and then the ball will be in her court.” To which Leopold is shocked and says “My dear friend, why on earth do you want the ball to be in her court? The whole point is to keep the ball in YOUR court!” These kids are MINE. Why on earth would I want to hand off this amazing job of raising MY kids to anyone else? The point is to keep this responsibility in MY court!
So. There’s that. No more complaining that someone else should be doing their job. It’s MY job and I’m going to claim it.
But this also brought to mind a verse. Isaiah 43:1. “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” Did you catch that? We are God’s. He has claimed us. People have asked me if I think God really cares about us on this earth…or if He just left us here. This verse…this verse emphatically gives us the answer to this. We are HIS. And as we enter the Easter weekend, where we remember that Jesus gave His life to redeem us, He said “they’re MINE” and didn’t / couldn’t leave the responsibility with anyone else.
You belong to someone, He’s claimed you. So claim it. Your children belong to you, like mine belong to me. Claim them. Keep the ball in your court. “You’re mine.”
