Children

Today I keep thinking about my children, and I can't help but compare my relationship with them to our relationship with God.  

It was so much easier when my children were young, though I didn't know it at the time.  I set the rules.  They followed the rules - most of the time.  If not, they were punished.  Pretty basic stuff.  I always thought that when they grew up my job was done.  They went out, lived their lives and I would live mine.

Now they're almost all adults, and I've discovered it's a lot harder.  I've had to let go.  I have to stand by and watch them make their own choices - good or bad.  I can tell them to stop.  I can warn them.  I can advise them. But whether or not they listen is another story.  They are adults.   They choose what they do, and there is nothing I can really do about it.

It's very hard to watch a "child" turn her back on her family.  It's hard watching a "child" make a choice you know they will regret.   It's hard watching them make mistakes with their own children; mistakes you know will have negative effects.   It's part of their growing up and part of our being their parent.

Is what we feel, as parents, the same as what God feels?  Does He feel the parental heartbreak as a child of His makes a devastating choice?  Does He feel intense sadness as a child turns her back on Him?  Does he cry when His child fails or rejoice when they succeed?  I think he does.  We are made in his image, so we must have the same emotions He does.

I think being a parent is a special insight on what God feels for us.  He is our Father.  He has laid down the rules.  He has given us His advice.  Now He has to stand back and watch as we make our choices the same way we have to stand back and watch our own children.

Sometimes I wonder if He wishes we were "little" again.