When our kids were toddlers (I guess with a 5-yr. span between the 1^st and the 4^th , they couldn’t all have been toddlers at the same time—must have just seemed like it) someone told me, “This is the easy age—wait until they’re teens.”   While waiting for more hair to grow in so I could pull it out again, I thought, Why are you telling me that?  Do you want to watch me implode, or something? Thanks to those earlier years, I have a matching set of bags under my eyes, and I never need to carry a map with me—I just follow the veins on my legs.  Yes, they were wonderful years.  No, they were not easy.  Often I was out at sea, sinking in toddlerism, while my kids were on shore, blithely climbing onto the counter to reach the knife set on top of the fridge.

Teen years are different.  It’s like someone slaps a mirror to your face and says, “Remember this person about 20 yrs. ago?  O.K., now be a parent.”  As you gaze into the steamy mirror, you can really see yourself in your kids.  It’s not a pretty sight.

Some days, after peeling ourselves off the floor for the 5^th time, all we can do is learn, hope, and trust.  Just when we think we have arrived as a parent, we are again humbled by our weaknesses.  From that position, we are then ready to look up to Christ, and to, once again, claim His daily strength as our own.

     “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.” James 4:10

Next week’s session: “All those parents who still feel like they’re someone’s child, please stand.”