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Layla had a fall recently, and she managed to bruise herself pretty well. Her eye is swollen, and she’ll probably be sporting a black eye for a couple weeks. She still looks cute and her personality hasn’t been affected (which is how we know that she is going to be alright). As a parent it feels a lot harder on me. Her physical blemish communicates a lot more pain to me than it does to her.
Our pediatrician friend assures us that she’ll be fine, and that she’ll probably be experiencing a few more bangs and bruises as she grows. Of course, we should be making sure to avoid some of the big ones.
I have been praying for Layla’s healing, but much more I’ve been recognizing my shortcomings as a parent—I will never be able to protect her from all pains, ills, and falls. [tag]Parenthood[/tag] is surfacing my weaknesses in new ways. Even when she is in my immediate care, I will moments of failure as a parent. In Psalm 27, the poet recognizes, “If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up” ([tag]Psalm 27.10[/tag]). I don’t think Layla had any sort of cognitive or even emotional conclusions that forsaking her caused her injury. And over my life, I don’t aim to forsake my daughter, but I recognize that my depravity may lead me to have lapses in my parenthood. And she will feel forsaken
I am grateful that I can trust in God to take her up. When I fail, God will not. When I cannot protect her, God can.
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I had a great time hanging out with you yesterday.
Thanks for this post. I don’t have kids, but my friends who do often tell me they wonder/worry about the kind of world in which they raise their kids. As one friend said, having a child is one of the greatest leaps of faith that God is good and in control of the world since so much of what we see and experience seems to contradict that.