Monday, December 11, 2006
Me as the Mother of God...
This God guy is one smart cookie. When he had to pick the girl to be the mortal mother of Jesus he didn't pick me.
I was doing some Christmas pondering in the book of Luke, and when I see all those things that people would call the things that prove that he was the Messiah, I can tell you right now I would not be putting up with that.
That whole "they were amazed" gig when he took off and they had to search for him for three days would just never go. The conversation when we finally found him would go quite differently. Something along the lines of, "I don't care if you were in church, you do NOT disappear on me for three days. And if your Father-with-a-capital-F has a real problem with that, he can just come down here and discuss it."
All those signs and portents would happen when he was 18, not 12. And that consorting with brimstone-scented riffraff in the desert alone would not be happening at any age. His brothers would be right there to help kick some Satanic backside.
I see this time and again in fiction, and in real life. Parents who somehow just fall out of their children's lives once the child has a direction of their own to follow. Brothers and sisters who diverge their relationships along with their interests as they grow.
Not happening in my house. Just because you have a compass heading, that doesn't mean it's time to make the trip. I'll be more than happy do help you do a few Hudson's Bay starts, just to test the trail. But you're not going off into the hinterlands until you're grown and you're not going alone, either.
Luckily only one of my kids has a really strong direction before they were pretty much grown and what she needs to start following it is right here. Plus she had the grace to wait until she was almost 15, so she can do her prep work here and then head off to her life ready to go. My eldest will be leaving for the Army in about a month. My younger son may be not far behind his brother (except he's going to the Steelworker's Union). They're both old enough and it's time. God go with them both.
It's not that I'm suggesting that kids should never grow up. I am saying that you're actually going to grown up before you go out and start doing stuff like you have. That's all. And once they do, they don't have to leave their family behind.
If they need help they know who to call. If for whatever reason things don't work out, they know how to get back here. And if they disappear into the desert for 40 day's it better be the Ghobi or something or I'm going to track them down. We're a family.
This God guy is one smart cookie. When he had to pick the girl to be the mortal mother of Jesus he didn't pick me.
I was doing some Christmas pondering in the book of Luke, and when I see all those things that people would call the things that prove that he was the Messiah, I can tell you right now I would not be putting up with that.
That whole "they were amazed" gig when he took off and they had to search for him for three days would just never go. The conversation when we finally found him would go quite differently. Something along the lines of, "I don't care if you were in church, you do NOT disappear on me for three days. And if your Father-with-a-capital-F has a real problem with that, he can just come down here and discuss it."
All those signs and portents would happen when he was 18, not 12. And that consorting with brimstone-scented riffraff in the desert alone would not be happening at any age. His brothers would be right there to help kick some Satanic backside.
I see this time and again in fiction, and in real life. Parents who somehow just fall out of their children's lives once the child has a direction of their own to follow. Brothers and sisters who diverge their relationships along with their interests as they grow.
Not happening in my house. Just because you have a compass heading, that doesn't mean it's time to make the trip. I'll be more than happy do help you do a few Hudson's Bay starts, just to test the trail. But you're not going off into the hinterlands until you're grown and you're not going alone, either.
Luckily only one of my kids has a really strong direction before they were pretty much grown and what she needs to start following it is right here. Plus she had the grace to wait until she was almost 15, so she can do her prep work here and then head off to her life ready to go. My eldest will be leaving for the Army in about a month. My younger son may be not far behind his brother (except he's going to the Steelworker's Union). They're both old enough and it's time. God go with them both.
It's not that I'm suggesting that kids should never grow up. I am saying that you're actually going to grown up before you go out and start doing stuff like you have. That's all. And once they do, they don't have to leave their family behind.
If they need help they know who to call. If for whatever reason things don't work out, they know how to get back here. And if they disappear into the desert for 40 day's it better be the Ghobi or something or I'm going to track them down. We're a family.