Fixing It

Adventures in parenting have been taken a whole new level with this stay at home order. And for me it’s been a good mix of fun games and engagements with them tied with the unavoidable frustrations with having kids around ALL DAY LONG. I just want to point out that I dearly love my kids, just so we’re clear on that. But it’s always interesting to have a mix of ages from 3 years to 13 years interacting constantly.
This week I had a rather routine situation where my youngest son came upstairs crying. I asked him what happened and he told me that one of his older brothers said he couldn’t be in his fort. I listened to what happened while hugging him and then I asked him, “Do you think your dad would let you not be in the fort? Don’t you think I’ll take care of it for you?” And he nodded between the tears affirming that he knew I would handle it using my parental authority to take care of the situation for him.
But to me, that’s always the struggle. I mean, I can fix a lot things for him now and make it better when I have the authority to do so. However, I know I won’t always have that authority in his life. There will be times I can’t fix it for him…a lot of times. And so, how do I balance when to fix things and when to let him learn by figuring it out himself? I haven’t figured out that exact balance for any of my kids yet.
But then I got to thinking about my heavenly Father. As far as I know there’s nothing in the Bible that talks about this balance in particular. There’s no list of when God will fix things for us and when God wants us to figure it out on our own. I wish there was, I think it’d make my life simpler.
But what I do know is that he promises to always be with us. In Deuteronomy 31.6 we read, “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (NIV) Even though that was written to the Israelites when they wandered in the wilderness, Paul repeats those words for us in Romans 8, showing that God will always be with his people…all people.
So, even though I won’t ever get it perfect as a parent, I hope my kids will always remember that I’ll be with them in some way. And even if I can’t physically, I pray they learn that God will always be with them, no matter what. And that they’ll hold onto that truth especially when things can’t be fixed for them. God bless.