Buying a new car is one of those things that always evokes mixed emotions is all of us. There are those of us who get excited and can’t wait to enter into the dance of negotiations and those of us who utterly despise the very thought of walking onto the new car tarmac and dealing with all the gamesmanship of purchasing a car.
I for one find myself somewhere in the middle. I enjoy the hunt, I enjoy the new car smells, and the discovery of the new inventions released for our “driving pleasure”.
I recently went through this experience when the lease on my wife’s car came to a close and we decided we were no longer going to lease but purchase a brand new Subaru.
We decided to do our due diligence and visit the dealer without the added input of a sales person. Thus we went to the nearest, and I might add only, Subaru dealership in our town on a Sunday afternoon when they were closed.
This gave us the opportunity to see what inventory they had and to review each new model, at least from the outside, to see if it “tickled our fancy”.
I was doing well with the base offering in each model, but I began to experience something I did not expect when I started to look into the windows of the more appointed vehicles.
I could not read the window sticker through the tinted glass!
This was very frustrating. I could not tell what was standard equipment and what beyond the basic offering was built into this car. I couldn’t tell if it had premium sound, or navigation, or even what the price was.
I was going to have to come back when a sales person was available to see what I wanted or needed to see. I was going to have to take the risk and put some personal interaction into the search.
It seems to me raising children is a lot like buying a car. When we aren’t willing to take a risk and invest some personal interaction into the process, we are doing little more than looking through that tinted window at the sticker.
We understand our children only from the perspective anyone else in the world might understand them. All children generally follow the same physical growth patterns and trod the same emotional path to adulthood. They are precious as babies, cute as toddlers, obnoxious as pre teens, unpredictable as teens, and then they leave home.
Many parents today are satisfied to take this “looking through a glass darkly” approach to parenthood and as a result forfeit much of the influence they are given to the ways of society in general. They really don’t see the hidden talents their children were knit together with in the womb.
In 1 Corinthians 13:12, commonly referred to as “the love chapter”, the bible states:
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. KJV
In the Greek, the word for see is Blepo (Strong 991), to see, discern, of the bodily eye. the word for darkly is Ainigma (Strong 135), an obscure thing.
Literally to perceive or look closely in an abstract or obscure sense. As if from a distance.
Then we address face to face: In the Greek face is Prosopon (Strong 4383) the front (as being towards view), i.e. the countenance, aspect, appearance, surface; by implication, presence. And the word known is Ginosko (Strong 1097), to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive, feel
So by looking through a glass darkly we perceive our children and know them from a distance.
But when we go to the last part of the verse, the word used is Epiginosko (Strong 1921) which is translated: to become thoroughly acquainted with, to know thoroughly.
Thus in relation to parenting our children we are encouraged to go beyond the tinted glass and interact with our children so as to become thoroughly acquainted with and know them thoroughly.
Ask any parent of a special needs child, myself included, you have to go behind the glass, but when you do, the treasures abound. Some are found easily, others take work.
Sometimes only thorough the spiritual hand of God is that revelation made possible.
En servicio como Padre
Dave
photo credit: <a href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/25802865@N08/7359666570/”>chooyutshing</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/”>cc</a>
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Dad Talk 
Many parents believe deep inside that their children are capable of great things but are brought down by the world to believe we must be more realistic with our expectations or their capabilities. I am grateful to have never been told “you need to be more realistic” or “you’re dreaming too big.” But then, my parents never saw me through that tinted glass and I’m a better man for it. Your children may not realistically be able to “be anything they want to be,” but God likely has a much bigger plan than we can imagine for them. One that neither parents nor their children should allow the “tint” of the world to darken their possibilities.
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Thank you Scott, for your comments. It touched me deeply to hear your perspective on how you were raised. It is a good thing God doesn’t see us through the same tint many parents view their children. God bless you.
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Thank you for the reminder to get up close and know our kids face to face! Our busy lives lend themselves far to easily to parenting from a distance!
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