Holding In Trust

Lunch time found a friend and me at a Mexican restaurant having conversation over chips, salsa and tacos.  The dark yellow walls and mariachi music added to the authenticity of the atmosphere almost as much as the clean smell of the Suavitel.  Between mouthfuls of food we talked about the comings and goings of our children.   

While we may have had some disagreement on our perspective of parenting, we both felt very strongly about one thing.  We wanted our children’s hearts to be fully engaged with Christ. 

I am reminded of something Laura said to us when she came to our home for a visit during her college years.  She had been in our youth group previously, so our conversation eventually turned to questions about how we could have prepared her better.  

Basically she said, “It isn’t that what you did and said wasn’t helpful.  In fact it was.  What you need to remember, though, is that some lessons a person only gets with life experience.  You need to have lived life before you can really understand.” 

Somehow that rings true as particularly wise and insightful. Maybe our heart isn’t captured until we face life’s circumstances in a way that reveals our need.  Maybe the pain of changing must be less than the pain of remaining the same. 

Maybe the timing and circumstances of everyone’s personal situation is different.  I know Diana’s and mine are.  I was an angry young man, and she was a discouraged wife and mother.  We were in a different stage in life and in different circumstances but both open to a heart change.   

We hold in trust for one another and our children that God is at work in their circumstances and in his timing.  We hold onto the knowledge of their true identity as the beloved of God until they can hold it for themselves.  We hold it in trust until they can see it and until they can believe it, whether it’s at the age of 22 or 32 or 42.