LEARNING TO TIE YOUR SHOES

One of my kids made an achievement this morning. It wasn’t a remarkable achievement in fact I thought it was something she had already accomplished. Jasmine my 6 year old learned how to tie her own shoes. I know that is not a big thing for a six year old, like I said I thought she already knew how to do it. A lot of her shoes have been the Velcro type through the years and I guess without really thinking about it I have just always tied her other shoes, usually because we are in a hurry to get somewhere. She demanded to tie her own shoes this morning and I was like okay, so how long is this going to take, I am not known for my patience when trying to get my kids to school in the morning so I had to take a deep breath and say to myself, “Breathe deeply it’s going to be okay”. I had already been told by her mom that she had asked the same thing the night before and the lesson hadn’t gone so well. So once the shoes were on the feet I took one foot and showed her how to do it. She tried it a couple of times and just couldn’t get the concept. That was the end of my patience so I very quickly tied both and said, “Okay let’s get going we are late.” After I took Charlie to his classroom I went to Jasmine’s class to check on her. I found her sitting on the floor trying to tie her shoes again. She was not giving up. So I sat down next her and said, “Okay let me show you this again.” She watched and then successfully did it herself. Learning to tie your shoes might seem like a minor thing in life, but I still remember when I first learned to tie mine and how proud I was, I could see that same pride in Jasmine’s eyes this morning. Plus there is a freedom in knowing how to tie your own shoes; you are no longer dependent upon someone else to do it for you. I also experienced a little sadness because what’s next? What else is she soon going to learn that I will no longer have to do for her? Before I know it she will have a driver’s license, then she will be out of high school, graduating from college and moving to some other part of the country. Okay maybe I am being a little dramatic, but the fact is I want my kids to always need me. It’s a stupid worry because no matter how much we achieve in life we still need our parents in some way. Even when we are completely independent we still value their advice, their wisdom and their amazing love of us. The fact is no matter how old we get we are still the kids and they are still the parents, even though the roles may be dramatically different.
My children have provided me with a different view of God lately. When I look at the relationship I have with my children and how much I love them, no matter how bad they act at times, it brings me comfort, because God the Father loves us even more than that. No matter how much we love our children, God loves them more and loves us more, I personally find that comforting. I also realize just as my children learn to be more independent they will always in some way be dependent upon me, even if it is just for emotional support. In the same way we are even more dependent upon God. We may think we can handle everything on our own, but that is not the truth. The big difference between our children and us as children of God is that we never really grow up. We are always dependent upon God for everything. We never really learn to tie our shoes. We are perpetually children before God the Father. As much as my sinful nature rebels against that thought, my new nature relaxes in that knowledge that Dad is always there handling things. In many ways I still provide all of that for Jasmine. I may have lost the tying the shoes job, but I am still her ride to school, at least for another 10 years.

Pastor Fred