Growing II

This is a burn pile we have at our Columbus Ave. corps, most of which has been put there by us and our four children, Tyler, Abby, Nate and Kate. It has more than doubled in this past week - what a fire we are gonna have!

Don't they look precious!

My husband and I are not alone in the effort to grow things here – I have several young ones helping me. As mom, I am not the one who does it all, and I cannot apologize about it. I do not feel the Bible tells me that mom will work into a frenzy to put everything away, cut, mulch, burn, mow, weed, dust everything, vacuum, wash, sort, polish – all on her own. I do feel, however, that the Bible is very specific about my role as loving authority in these young lives. “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6

As the authority within their lives, I cannot shun the responsibility to train them in how to work – and for these 14 months, it has meant to work hard. Now, in all honesty, this has also meant many jobs have taken sooooooooo much longer than if I would have done it myself. Frequently, I needed to follow-up their attempts to “help” and finish it properly. Or fix things. Or begin a whole other job the cleaning effort has created.. But as I do, I need to remind myself, “This is for their own good. This is for them. I love them too much to not let them know how to do this.”


We as parents are not raising boys and girls – we are raising men and women. Men and women who will not live with us their whole lives. They are going to live on their own, and maybe have the gracious privilege to be married. They are gong to combine their lives with other people, who may have been raised a different way, who approach work in a different way.
Far from breaking child labor laws, we have induced within our young family that work is part of what God created us for, and there is always more to do. Though a reluctant work force at times, they are definitely becoming a true help. Some of these jobs literally could not have been done without them. We have been able to accomplish big tasks, cooperating and complementing strength…that is before the “you’re such a snot head” word fights start and then its all over.
No other authority in their life is going to be as much in love with them as their family – no boss, no supervisor, no colleague, no policeman, no judge, no county commissioner. It is a responsibility squarely placed in front of the parents to help a child meet authority and not buckle under its weight, hide from its gaze or run from its boundaries. I am on my knees regularly before God to be guided by His authority to exercise a loving, firm, nurturing, reliable authority for them. My growing saplings, precious young ones…
my T.A.N.K.