Opportunities for growth.
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It can be easy to fall into the bad habit of joking and complaining about how hard it is to be the parent of five unique and vivacious children.
No doubt parenthood is fraught with obstacles and difficulties that seem to threaten even our very sanity! It’s definitely hard work.
But children are perhaps the best catalyst I know for helping me become more like Jesus.
They have already provided me with ample opportunities to develop love, patience, gentleness, forgiveness, tolerance, meekness, humility, and I anticipate many more years of this.
Interacting with my five children has often revealed me to myself. It’s in a surprising or unexpected moment that my true colors often shine.
Sometimes it’s ugly and difficult to see and accept that part of who I am. But life isn’t about perfection as much as it is about progress.
I’m certainly not perfect, but I am confident in saying that I am a better person, husband and father today than I was five years ago.
There is still an obvious chasm between the character of Jesus and my own, but being a father has afforded me the opportunity to grow in important ways that I don’t believe could have come in any other way.
Parenting is hard. Relationships are messy. Families can be frustrating. But they provide some of our greatest opportunities for growth and developing Christlike attributes.
Rather than viewing people and situations as problems, I’m beginning to see that it’s much better and accurate to view them as opportunities for me to be like Jesus, not obstacles to be solved or eliminated from my life.
