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Parenting in a Changing World -
Part 1: The Principle of the Perfect Parent
Dispelling the myth
Raising children in a modern and enlightened society is a task of great
responsibility. Parents now deal with issues that were not even part of
the public consciousness twenty years ago. The burden is great. But so are
the rewards.
First things first: The first issue we must
address is the myth that parenting is a series of right and wrong
decisions: the perfect parent makes all the right choices; the incompetent
parent makes the wrong choices.
The truth is that there are no
perfect parents. We are not created to be perfect.
We are created to love and to serve. We are created with flaws, and
quirks, and idiosyncrasies; but in our uniqueness and in our weakness, we
can draw strength from Gods Word, from His presence, and from His
promises.
The world tells us that
perfection is a noble and attainable goal. Hollywood parades perfect faces
on perfect bodies with perfect lives across our living rooms each evening,
leading us to believe that perfection is attainable. But that is an
illusion.
So we must
recognize from the start that we are all flawed, made of clay, striving to
reach higher and look deeper, forced by our humanness to stay humble, to
seek, and to grow.
Perfection is not our goal.
Our goal is to escort, through a changing
world, the children God has entrusted to us with love and wisdom.
To read additional columns on Parenting
and Family and Faith, click
on these underlined links. Deuteronomy, Chapter 6: Verse 7 |