Life in the bottle lacks knowledge.

I think folks who never get the opportunity to have children definitely live longer lives, have more money, and much less gray hair than those of us who so optimistically and naively enter the hallowed vocation of parenting. However, having children enables a parent to have a unique insight, in a very tangible way, of how God loves us as His children. When your children are brand new and precious, their "book of life" has pages that are clean and unsmudged with the messiness of life that always seems to accumulate with time, being that we are all sinful and fallen creatures. It's easy to love them. After all they look like us, but they haven't screwed up like us, so we envision that their lives will be different than ours. We will keep them from making mistakes, because now we are experts in avoiding missteps on the road of life.

About the time middle school happens, we discover that these precious and wonderful children have begun to make choices that have you as a parent asking, "What have we spent the past decade doing? How is it that we have failed so miserably to communicate our values to our children?" The scrapes you got into as a child/teenager pale in comparison to the escapades your children now create. As the mother of 5 very active, competitive boys (4 are now grown), I was hit squarely between the eyes with these aliens about the time they turned 14. What happened to my obedient and polite sons? As my husband and I juggled the hurt and disappointment, and we continued to guide our children through the remaining years they were at home, I realized, for the first time, the absolute hurt and disappointment that God, utterly holy and righteous as He is, must feel when we as His children make a total hash of the choices we opt for in life. How all-encompassing His love must be that when we were so unlovely and unworthy, He sent His son to die for us, so that we could have a life truly worth living. How through His example we can feel freedom to love our children warts and all.

Now son #5 is entering the "alien years". I hope we will have the tenacity to endure those years one more time. These are things I do know: There is nothing more predictable than the wickedness and sinfulness that permeates the unregenerate human nature. There is nothing more wise than parents who know that they lack the knowledge and wisdom to raise their children. There is nothing more reassuring than knowing our omniscient God will provide wisdom when ask, and help us love our children as He, by perfect example, shows His love for us.

Life in the Bottle needs His wisdom.