The following conversation happened many years ago between a sweet lady at church and one of our Home Parent Moms.
Lady: “Ma’am, your boy’s shoes are on the wrong feet.”
Mom: “Yes I know, but he tied them himself for the first time today.”
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How often are we so blinded by perfectionism and judgment that we miss the growth all around us? You may say a flower’s not a flower until it blooms. I say, nothing blooms without growth underneath the soil.
If my time at Coyote Hill Foster Care Ministries has taught me anything, it’s that we are ALL a work in progress. We are all running this race we call life and we all get tripped up now and again. From talking with a current Home Parent Mom recently, the one thing she would shout from the rooftops if she could is that, “Our kids are a work in progress. You may not see the growth. But we do. It’s there, and it’s beautiful.”
You may see a child that is struggling in school. We see a child that never liked school, but now eagerly seeks out help. You may see a worn out, ripped pair of jeans. We see a boy that climbed a tree today. You may see siblings arguing in the grocery store. We see sisters who just learned how to apologize.
Our Home Parents see and celebrate the growth that others mistake as failure.
This challenges me. This challenges me to look at my relationships with my own family, my friends, and myself. Where can I find examples of growth in my own life? Have I celebrated them, or have I only seen them as failure? Do I see the moments of striving and say, “Wow, you moved a step up today!” Or instead, do I look at the remaining distance still left to go and think, “You’ll probably never get there, you’ve only made one step forward.”
I hope this challenge you too.
I hope you can look at yourself and applaud what God is doing.
We all see it when we look back and reflect on our foolish years of youth, but I want us to see it today. Everyday.
God is a steady, patient God. He works in the details. He works in the tiniest of moments that we miss. Let’s not miss anymore of these. Let’s celebrate them.
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