18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with the perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 1Peter 1:18-19
Much about working with teens can feel futile. We instruct, coach, grunt, and yell, only to have them do the exact opposite. Yet our Father, whose wisdom we have ignored, has a way of ransoming even the most mundane and futile exercises in his epic plan of redemption. If we are saved from parenting, then we are saved for parenting – a type of redeemed parenting.
My family likes to tell the story of the more than one time that my mother dropped me as a child. They tell it with humor and laughter today, but in the moment, I am sure this was not the case. In the moment, our mistakes are magnified past space and time. Yet somehow, today I am relatively normal, thinking little of the time I base jumped from my mother’s fumbling arms.
Now I don’t write this to scare you into putting protective equipment on your kids, but to realize that humans, even tiny ones, are incredibly resilient and ultimately God is their protector.
As parents and mentors, perhaps we need to offer the same grace to ourselves as our Father unleashes on us knowing that in His grace there is redemption of all the times we “dropped” our kids. No experience is wasted. No failure is too great. Christ came to bring meaning to the futile. Lead with grace today.
Matt simon blog 