At the end of this month, Lord-willing, my wife and I will be adopting our first child. We’ve been matched with a birth mother and things are moving along very quickly. We are exorbitantly excited about this! At the same time, though, I feel the weight of quickly approaching parenthood. I will soon be a father to my very own child. This is a bit overwhelming, to say the least.
As I pray and think about this, I have asked God to prepare me and guide me as we quickly approach this new chapter in our lives. I found helpful, profound wisdom on page 157 of N. D. Wilson’s book, Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl:
The world is rated R, and no one is checking IDs. Do not try to make it G by imagining the shadows away. Do not try to hide your children from the world forever, but do not pretend there is no danger. Train them. Give them sharp eyes and bellies full of laughter. Make them dangerous. Make them yeast, and when they’ve grown, they will pollute the shadows.
I was overwhelmed when I first read this. I asked myself, “What would our families look like if all Christian parents made this their child-raising mission statement? And what would our world look like if it contained children trained with this mindset?” I know it will be hard work. I get that. But I really want this for my family. By God’s grace, I’m going to give it one heck of a shot starting at the end of this month. Whether you have children young or old, I hope you will strive for this too.
