Experience the Mystery as Children Grow Into the Fullness of Their Being

Newborn babies eventually blossom into children. In many ways a newborn is like a rosebud. A newly formed rosebud is closed tight upon itself in all of its greenness. But with each passing day, it begins to loosen and open to the world around it; sharing the great beauty of its red, pink or peach petals. Newborns grow in a similar way. As each day passes they gain hair, weight and color. They slowly open to the reality around them gaining knowledge, understanding and the willingness to share their beauty with the world. And they share it with no one more so than their parents.

It must be fascinating for parents to watch their children grow and blossom into the unique image and likeness of God that each child represents. Each day, as a baby grows, parents have the unique opportunity to wonder what they will learn about their child as it opens and spreads its petals a little more into the sunlight of a new day. Will he have a bubbly personality, full of life? Will she move gracefully through the dance of life? What will he have a great talent for? What will she have a great passion for? What new, God-given aspect of my child will I encounter today? Wow! What a great way to witness the mystery of life.

Parents are like gardeners. Their role is to nourish and care for their children; to guide and affirm them; to watch with wonder as each child becomes the person God intended them to be. And yet, too often, parents over-step these boundaries. Instead of watching with amazement as their children blossom into their unique image and likeness of God, parents allow their egos to get in the way. They decide that each child should be a “mini-me.” And so parents busy themselves by recreating each child in their own image and likeness with a total disregard for God’s original plan for each child.

It starts in simple ways. A mother takes her six year old daughter shopping for a party dress. The daughter wants the purple dress, but mom overrules the child’s choice of self-expression and chooses to buy a beige dress instead. After all, beige and khaki are mom’s favorite colors for clothes and mom knows what’s best. Right? Wrong! Mom has chosen what is right for mom, not for her daughter. She has failed to watch the mystery of her child unfold by accepting what the child has chosen for herself.

Dad always loved baseball, but was never good at playing it himself. But this boy of his will right that wrong. Dad can see right away that his son is good with his hands. He’ll make a great pitcher, no doubt. As the boy grows, he becomes fascinated with molding clay. Dad was right, the boy has great hands. But they are great for sculpting, not fastballs. Instead of being elated that God has given the boy a great talent, instead of visualizing his son sculpting statues of presidents one day, dad works hard to recreate the boy as a baseball player. Dad discourages the sculpting as effeminate. The boy sticks to his talent, however, and a wedge grows between father and son: A wedge that never would have existed if dad had simply been grateful to God for the wonder of his son’s natural talent, instead of trying to make the boy over into a mini-me.

What God has created is perfection. Don’t mess with it. We may not be perfect, but we are created by God to God’s specifications. We are all given natural personalities, traits and talents. They represent the image and likeness of God that God wants us to project to the world. Parents are graced to be able to nurture—not tinker with-- those images and likeness of God. Parents are graced to be part of the great mystery of life that their children are. That mystery doesn’t end with birth. Granted, birth is a great mystery, but it is only the beginning. The mystery of each and every child continues to grow and unfold with each and every child. It’s endless mystery.

My hope is for all young parents to take part in this mystery by observing it, by allowing themselves to be amazed and by nurturing each child as he or she blossoms into the fullness of his or her own image and likeness of God. I encourage parents to daily send forth rays of love to warm your children, words of comfort to affirm them, and tears of joy to encourage them. In this way, the world will become a better place and all of our souls will shine to their fullest abilities.