Parenting #1

One of the scariest things in parenting is to take seriously and literally the idea of God as Father. What that means is that God relates to us as a Father who loves us so much that, knowing all the wrong that we have done, knowing all the wrong that we will do, sends an older brother to die and redeem his younger siblings.

As an aside, of course, the older brother himself is willing and ready. It is not a case of cosmic child abuse as some allege, but the case of a loving father and a loving older brother seeking the lost younger siblings of a beautiful family.

What that means is that as we relate to our children, one of the best things that we can do for them is to love them.

Not to discipline them, although that is important. Not to fight them, although sometimes that is inevitable. But fundamentally, primarily, to love them. And that cuts against so much of our traditional and instinctive approach to parenting.

The idea that we have to always be on our children's case, always be pushing them, always be nudging them towards the right thing. If that doesn't come out of a fundamental relationship of self-sacrificial love, then we are not truly living in faith.

In faith that God loves us.

In faith that God loving us is the right thing.

In faith that we ourselves are not deserving of any love, yet have received such an immense love from a father.

And if we have been loved and forgiven in this way, how much more should we love our children in that same way?