Over the last couple of days I've been reading through a book by Donald Miller titled "To Own A Dragon: Reflections on growing up without a Father." Donald Miller is one of my favorite authors because of his raw honesty and I enjoy the wit that he adds to his writing. I was actually looking for one of his other books, "Through Painted Deserts" when I decided to pick up this book- The library didn't have the other.
Initially I thought, I grew up with a good father-this book might not apply to me. Oh, how wrong I was. I got about 5 chapters deep and Donald Miller started speaking into my life, as a man now, and as a future father.
Miller begins to discuss how our parents and the authority around us influence our perception of God, the Father. For most of us, our parents weren't perfect, and for a lot of us we grew up without one or the other- and those things affect us whether we realize it or not. We can believe that God is present, real, and active: but like Miller touches on, we can forget that He is a father, He isn't a distant authority figure, but He is close, personal and present in our daily lives.
I want to share this from Miller's book, I'd love to hear some of your thoughts:
"I started thinking about the wisdom that is handed down when we have authority figures in our lives. We learn a trade by submitting to authority, we learn a work ethic by submitting to authority, we gain an academic life by submitting to authority, and more than any of this, we learn who we actually are by submitting to authority. And when we have earned authority ourselves, we teach others, because for so many years we have been taught. A guy like me, then, who has a resistance to authority, is begging to be useless. What I mean is, he isn't receiving any advice on how to live, and in turn he isn't able to hand advice down to those who are coming behind him. And if he is handing down advice, it isn't good advice. I mean it isn't tested and tried by years of experience."
Is there some knowledge and wisdom that children who are missing one or both parents have to learn on their own?
If so, do we have a responsibility to pass that knowledge on to children who are lacking that authority figure in their lives? Can we even be that sort of presence in their lives? If so, what's that look like? Thoughts?
1 comments:
This takes me back to this past Sunday and the question that came up in our small group. We asked, what lesson lies in Jesus waiting until he was 30 to 'start' his ministry?
I think there is a lot to unpack there, like God's timing verse ours, patience and trust in God's timing - but I also think there is a lesson of submitting to authority. He learned the family trade and was in every way a male in his Jewish culture. And is was through his submission that He taught us many, many lessons.
But as it relates to parenting and kids without, I think we have a profound task to help hand down what we've learned - but we also have a profound task to continue to stay humble and stay learning.
Submission is a deep and complex topic - more to think about.
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