As a follow-up to my post last week regarding pronouns, today I’m sharing a bit of a parable. Discussions this week showed there were many with a hunger for more on this topic, especially as it relates to parenting children in our world today.
When my son was about two years old, he was intrigued by the dog living beyond our backyard and would often peek between the slats of the tall wooden fence to see this giant white dog. One day I came home from church and Heather shared that I had a nursing job to do. It was my job to deal with splinter removal. And, on this day I had quite a job to do.
It turns out that as my son was peering through the rough wooden fence, his nose was picking up many tiny little splinters. Of course, he didn’t’ want ANYTHING to do with their removal. And, on top of it, our elderly neighbor didn’t help matters by saying that he was kind of cute with the extra little freckles on his nose.
As a loving dad, I knew I couldn’t let those dirty, rotten splinters stay where they were. There was a risk of infection and other problems. So, in spite of the tears and struggles against my efforts, I was able to remove every one of those pesky splinters. And, by God’s gift of healing, the little red dots eventually went away and life joyfully continued…with more careful peeking through the fence.
Childhood presents our children with many enticements that pique their curiosity…and threaten their well-being, especially their faith. Loving parents warn their children of such things but can’t protect them from all of them. Sin WILL find its way into their lives. It’s then that love really finds its test…challenging parents to care enough to remove the dirty infectious power of sin from their lives. They will resist because it WILL be painful. Others will say it’s fine or even kind of cute to see our children in their soiled condition. But Christ has called us to tough love. And, by His grace and power, that love will pay off as our children will recover, learn important lessons and grow in the whole health that only Jesus and His love can give. The blessings will be worth the effort…eternally.