Parenting is More About Kids Than it is About Parents
Today my lovely daughter turned 10. She’s officially a big girl. I do not take for granted that her time with us as her legal guardians is more than half over. I am very aware that she is [thankfully] still teachable. It is my goal, as her dad, to impress upon her what I think is wise. I do this not because I want to be remembered as a great dad nor because I want others to think I am wise. I do this because I want Lizzy to be wise. I understand how important her development is and how much it depends on what she gets from her mother and me.
Parenting is more about kids than it is about parents. I read something this week that highlighted this concept.
2 Chronicles 36:9 — Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
Jehoiachin was the son of Jehoiakim; a few verses earlier we see that the father also did evil in the sight of the Lord. I find it fascinating how many kings inherited their father’s propensity to do evil in the sight of the Lord. This story particularly interests me since Jehoiachin was only eight (or eighteen, if you read the account in 2 Kings 24). Here is a little boy who was in charge of a country and only reigned for three months. And his life is summed up like so: “He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”
May that never be said about my children.
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