Sunday’s Food for Thought : What kind of life our kids are living?
One who has been through difficulties and struggles will find it easier to feel satisfied.
But one who has hardly been through discomforts, inconveniences and difficulties, will find it easier to complain and criticise.
[Thoughts shared by Rev. Stephen Tong during our Sunday Service last week]
…
What kind of life have we been living? Or to be more specific, what kind of life have our children been living?
Is it a life where difficulties, struggles and discomforts are simply absent from it ?
We parents love our children, and we obviously do not thrive in letting our children ‘suffer’ on purpose.
However, the reality is, when our children hardly ever know what it’s like to struggle, to want something and not get it, to put in lots of effort in order to get something, we parents are ‘robbing’ them off their ‘fighting spirit’.
Our children will one day grow up and be independent. They’ll be in a world where there will be difficulties and failures.
The question is, will our children – when they’re all grown up – get up and walk again when they fall?
Yes, it’s not possible for us parents to completely know how our children will be like when they’re all grown up, because life in itself is complicated, and there are many external factors that will influence our children’s characters.
But one thing that we can’t deny is, as parents we do have crucial roles in our children’s lives. ESPECIALLY in their first few formative years, when they’re still very dependent on us, and are still learning about the world from us.
And, we CAN decide on the kinds of ‘environment’ and ‘situations’ that our children are exposed to when they’re little.
Let’s be with our children today for our children’s future.
And let’s continually ask for God’s wisdom, so that we’re better equipped too in raising and bringing up our little ones according to His ways.
Because being a parent is never easy, and we can’t be close to being a ‘good parent’ without HIS guidance and mercy.
