Parenthood teaches you the ways of God

When my son was about five, he wanted a particular science toy. I agreed to buy him one, so we set off to Toys R Us. When we entered the store, we were greeted by a maze-like structure of shelves, all full of toys. My son hesitated at first, but quickly darted to the right to search for his toy.

Luckily, I could see over the immediate shelves and spotted on the far left a shelf tagged "Learning Toys - Science". I called out to my son, "No, it's this way", pointing left. So he backtracked and followed me. Sure enough, we quickly found the shelf and toy, paid up, and left happy.

My advantage was, of course, height. Because I could look over the shelves, and thus see farther than my son, I could guide him towards his goal.

The vantage point of height is why castles were built on hill tops. Anyone approaching, friend or foe, would be spotted miles away before they could get close. The higher up you are, the farther you can see.

God is so high up that he can see tomorrow.

So because God can see further than we can, he can guide us towards our goals.

A Christian brother once shared a lesson he had learned about God's far-reaching grace. Not long after having his first child in Singapore, J was posted to the US for a few years. The whole family moved there, and in time, J's second child, a daughter named E, was born. And she automatically received US citizenship. After J's job posting ended, he and family returned to Singapore, in time for E to start primary school.

E did okay in school initially, but around 14 years of age began to find it difficult to study and to make friends. J and wife did many things to try to help: changed several schools, hired tuition teachers, and consulted counsellors and psychiatrists. Nothing seemed to help. After two years of agonizing struggle, J found a solution: there is a special-ed school in the US that caters to E's condition. But the school enrolled only US citizens, not foreigners.

That was when it hit J --- God had, twenty years ago, arranged for J to be posted to the US, so that E could be born there, so that E could get US citizenship, so that in time to come, E's learning difficulty could be resolved back in the US.

God is so powerful that he can see far into the future. And is so loving that He would work things out for the good of J and E. Twenty years in advance.

But you may protest: if God is truly good, why did He allow E to suffer this learning disability in the first place? Why not heal her immediately? No one knows. Perhaps it is to teach J this experiential lesson of God's grace. And through J's sharing, to teach me the same lesson too.

This much is clear: God's lesson can sometimes span a very long time; He is not in a hurry.

Indeed, parenthood teaches you the ways of God. But it is easy to miss if you are not attentive.