A Gracious Hand
I watched the minutes tick by as time appeared to maneuver in gradual movement. Surrounded by naked white partitions and the stench of disgrace, I sat alone in a hospital room that felt as empty as I did.
For years, my hurting and wandering coronary heart had led me removed from residence, removed from the steerage and love of my dad and mom, and much from the knowledge and safety of my Heavenly Father. Very similar to the parable of the prodigal son, my coronary heart had been lured by the guarantees of the world, the independence I longed for, and the happiness that I used to be decided to seek out by proving my value to these round me.
The reward of others, the successes I accrued, and the momentary pleasures happy for a time, however the additional I wandered, the extra it took to fill the pit of vacancy rising inside me.
Steadily, the shiny issues of the world grew uninteresting. What used to style candy turned bitter. And my sense of value shifted with the winds of how others seen me (or no less than my perspective of it). My countless striving for approval, the longing to be full of one thing lasting, and the battle between flesh and spirit turned greater than I may bear.
And it landed me within the pediatric psych ward of the hospital.
I had hit all-time low—a spot of utter desperation. And by God’s grace, he met me in that place of desperation and drew my coronary heart into the unending love, forgiveness, and compassion he had been wooing me with all alongside however that I’d been too deaf to listen to.
Lastly, after years of wandering, my Heavenly Father had led me again to him in repentance—the place the place I actually belonged.
Parenting Wandering Hearts
Now that I’m a guardian, I’m reminded of my previous once I see my youngsters’s tendency to seek for their value and happiness in themselves and the world round them. And should you’re a guardian, you’ve doubtless seen that pure tendency in your youngsters to wander (or run!) from what God says is greatest—even when the character of it appears to be like completely different with every little one.
The fact is, identical to the prodigal son, our hearts are liable to seek for one thing greater than what God has already promised. Not solely are our youngsters born right into a world that rejects the God who created it, however all of us naturally need to be self-sufficient and unbiased from authority and something that may maintain us from what we understand as true happiness. However beneath all of it is usually a misdirected need to be beloved, valued, happy, and glad aside from the One who created and is aware of us.
For that cause, I’m grateful God’s phrase isn’t silent on this matter. Particularly, the account of the prodigal son is a relatable one to every of us. Should you aren’t conversant in the story, I encourage you to learn Luke 15:11–32 together with your youngsters.
Not solely is that this story timeless as a result of it will get to the center of every one in all us, however it may be useful to debate with our youngsters what the youthful brother might have left residence searching for. What may need drawn him away from his father and towards the world? How may they really feel the same pull? Very similar to Jesus’s use of parables to show us deep religious truths, this story could be a launching level for dialog as we assist our youngsters consider the center behind their ideas, emotions, and decisions.
Beneath all of it is usually a misdirected need to be beloved, valued, happy, and glad aside from the One who created and is aware of us.
The Motive Beneath the Motion
The reality is, the very air our youngsters breathe on this tradition is saturated with messages corresponding to, What makes you particular and distinctive? What makes you lovable? Happiness lies inside speedy gratification. Boundaries and guidelines are solely preserving you from what you actually deserve. And people messages typically lead youngsters to consider that they should be ok, slot in, make an “id” for themselves, and fulfill the deep longing of their soul with something that can briefly fulfill.
And so, like every brother within the parable of the prodigal son, our youngsters’s actions are sometimes blended with a refined motivation of prideful self-confidence and/or a need to really feel beloved, valued, and happy by what they do, what they’ve, and the way good, proficient, or accepted they’re by these round them. Ultimately, that phantasm proves to be simply that—an phantasm that deceives and attracts them away from the true pleasure, satisfaction, and safety present in a relationship with their Heavenly Father.
As dad and mom, we are able to all relate to the wrestle. Subsequently, we now have a possibility to attract close to to our youngsters with each grace and reality for example of our compassionate Father, realizing that we too are liable to seek for our self-worth and happiness on this world.
How may that look virtually?
Take into account an occasion the place your little one will get caught dishonest on a take a look at in school. Our knee-jerk response is usually to really feel dissatisfied and even shocked by it. However once we purpose to know their coronary heart, quite than simply reply to the motion, it turns into a educating second. As an alternative of, “How may you do such a factor?” we may ask, “Why do you suppose you felt the necessity to cheat on that take a look at? Did you suppose you’d disappoint us, or are you afraid to fail or make errors? Finally, what have been you believing about your self, others, and God that led to that selection?”
After serving to them look at their coronary heart motives, we are able to clarify that our decisions all the time have penalties, however then invite them into the releasing reward of repentance, reminding them that God is all the time able to obtain a coronary heart of repentance with grace and forgiveness, identical to the daddy within the prodigal son.
By means of the experiences of Wander, this artistic retelling of the parable of the prodigal son teaches youngsters ages 6–8 concerning the love of the heavenly Father and biblical truths about value and id.
Once we ask our youngsters questions to attract their hearts to the floor, quite than simply tackle the motion, we train them to look at the place sin could also be stemming from unbelief, a unsuitable perception, insecurity, satisfaction, or worry. It does not excuse the sin, nevertheless it can provide them perception into how their decisions, ideas, and attitudes typically develop out of a need to seek out safety, happiness, and price on this planet, quite than their id and price already declared by God by Jesus.
I’ll be the primary to confess that, as dad and mom, it’s far too straightforward to have a knee-jerk response to our youngsters’s sinful or silly decisions—particularly once they’re ongoing. Or we are able to make the error of assuming our compliant little one is spiritually wholesome as a result of they’re not as outwardly rebellious. However Proverbs 20:5 says that “the needs of an individual’s coronary heart are deep waters, however one who has perception attracts them out.” We serve our youngsters nicely once we assist them discern the center’s motives beneath the floor of their ideas and actions.
How can we be dad and mom of perception that train our youngsters to grow to be youngsters of perception? By asking questions, giving house for feelings that we (and sometimes they) don’t absolutely perceive but, and educating them to make use of Scripture to convict, consolation, encourage, and draw out the deep waters of the center. And the parable of the prodigal son is a superb place to begin, offering our youngsters with a flyover view of the pure human coronary heart. However greater than something, it offers them a fantastic image of their Heavenly Father’s unending love—even to wandering, misplaced, and rebellious youngsters like all of us as soon as have been.
A Reflection of Our Father’s By no means-Ending Love
You, as a guardian, most certainly know your little one higher than anybody. However even nonetheless, it’s unimaginable to completely know your little one’s coronary heart. However there’s one who does. And we now have the privilege of looking for that knowledge and perception by prayer as we try to boost our youngsters on this advanced world. Though we’ll fall brief, we now have the privilege of being a mirrored image of our Heavenly Father to our youngsters. We will pray for his or her salvation, enable them the house to make errors and study from them, train them to discern the ideas and beliefs beneath their decisions, and be able to obtain them with grace and forgiveness once they are available repentance.
However in the long run, our youngsters’s lives and hearts relaxation within the reliable arms of their Heavenly Father, not our personal. Like my painful prodigal journey, God had a plan of redemption in my life, regardless of how far I had wandered from residence; regardless of how darkish it appeared for a time; and regardless of how misplaced I appeared.
Buddies, God is a God of the unimaginable. He can carry a lifeless coronary heart to life, heal what’s damaged, forgive the unforgivable, give energy to the weary, and produce the prodigal residence. Be inspired, for whether or not your little one is 2 or twenty, they’re by no means past the attain of the gracious, compassionate, forgiving, and redeeming love of our Heavenly Father.
Sarah Walton is the writer of The Long Road Home: A Tale of Two Sons and a Father’s Never-Ending Love.
