Thank God we grow in stages

Thank God we all grow in stages! I’m glad I’m not born an instant teenager. We all have the same beginning and when we are born we were 9 months old. From baby to being a toddler to being a small kid to being a teenager, adolescence, a young adult, etc…. Each stage has its challenges of course. Imagine the frustrations of being a baby! You can’t communicate verbally to your parents and the frustrations of not being able to tell them what you need, how they are over feeding you, how you are feeling so uncomfortable being wrapped up like a Christmas tree even though the temperature reads 34 Celsius on the scale! Man, have they forgotten? We were born naked and we thought that was pretty cool! Hello world!

Anyway here you are now a teenager, an adolescence, a soon-to-be young adult. There are things you want to do, places you want to go, people you want to hang around with but you are limited in your resources. You are dependent on your parents whether you like it or not. Currently they are your finance managers, your book keepers, your accountants and your auditors. They are your guardians, your personal body guards, the jury and the judge, and they come with rules. They have responsibilities over you and they have been assigned to oversee your growth. And here’s what some of you think about them … “They don’t understand me. They don’t care about me. They don’t trust me. They hate me. They love my brother/sister more than me”. I know. I’ve been there, done it. The things that are important to you doesn’t seem important to them. “They just simply don’t understand. They don’t trust me”. Well, looking back now I can tell you, that’s not true at all.

Donny Osmond in his song “And they call it puppy love” kinda describe it all. The lyrics go …. “And they call it puppy love. Oh I guess they’ll never know. How a young heart really feels. And why I love her so ….. oh please tell them all this isn’t fair … this is not a puppy love”. I am not writing about that mushy mushy stuff this week but in many other ways they are rather similar. Basically you feel like your parents don’t love you or trust you. You can’t always do what you want to because they would not give their permission, etc … etc. Therefore you vent your frustrations on them by rebelling; doing things you know will get them upset. You need to understand of course that what we sow today eventually we will reap someday.

In the Bible Paul the apostle said, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Cor 13:11-12). I am sure you have done this …. Looking at your old photos from years back. Would you do the things now you did back then? Would you wear the same dresses? Same spectacles? Same shoes? Same hairdo? You know my friends gets upset with me (especially girls) when I show then the old photos I took of them back some 20 years ago! What’s my point? My point is this. Back in those years when my friends and I were at your age, we thought WE know best what WE WANT, what we want to wear, what we want to do, who we want to mix with, etc. When our parents told us to take things easy, that it’s just “puppy love”, we fight them. We thought they don’t understand, that they were heartless. Is it the same today?

Thank God we all grow in stages. We have to accept the fact that at different stage we behave differently. We discard the bad stuff and move along to the next stage with the good stuff we’ve gathered that will add more quality into our life. Don’t be so adamant to think we know all things and we know what’s best for us in our own lives. God gave us parents NOT to be a torn in our flesh but to spur us to grow healthily into those stages of life. That’s why parents are always ahead of us in everything. I think of them like traffic lights in our lives. When it’s red, let’s pay attention and don’t be so arrogant to think we know best. When it’s orange, let’s slow down and consider. There are things we need to think through. When it’s green, hey … appreciate them for they are God’s guardian angels in your lives.

My father passed just 6 years ago. My mom … she’s 84 and someday too she’ll be on to glory land. Then I will be without parents. I don’t want to have to say someday “I wish I have done more for them. I wish I could have made life a little easier for them”. The time to love them is now. The time to appreciate them is now. The time to honor them is now. Someday you will have to sail through your life without their counsel, love and encouragement. If you are fortunate to still have them with you, thank God for what you still have. Don’t waste your life and energies dwelling on things you do not have. Life may not be fair, but God is good. Out of His love He gave us …. parents. They are not all powerful like God. They make mistakes. They worry over you (sometimes it’s legitimate). They may not be fair but they are the only parents you’ve got. Help them grow in their parenthood. Thank God we all grow in stages.