Parents and guardians who live in wintry areas are familiar with the acrobatics and manual dexterity required to dress their children for the out of doors. We are committed to keeping our young ones safe, warm, and healthy and protecting them from weather hazards.
As a child, I remember walking to school and wearing black rubber boots over my shoes on snowy days. Appropriately, the boots were called “overshoes;” they assured traction and kept shoes dry. They were heavy, clumsy, and had metal clasps that were difficult to open and close. Once at school, getting the boots off was not easy. My schoolmates and I would stand on the stairs inside the entry and tap our heels on the edge of the steps, trying to withdraw our shoes from the boots. There was a lot of clunking and banging amid puddles and slush.
An enthusiastic kick would sometimes cause the shoe to come off our foot and get stuck in the boot. We then had to extract the shoe by hand—not good. There was the looming pressure to arrive at class on time. At seven years old, this turn of events would have been the start of a bad day. We didn’t get new boots as often as we acquired new shoes to fit our growing feet. The new shoes were too snug for the old boots.
Keep Moving
In our daily lives, sometimes, we are asked to leave behind what previously had been a good fit. Amid life’s transitions, we may feel we are losing traction. Change can be discomforting. Sometimes, we get stuck. Yet we know we are invited to keep moving forward to the maturity to which our loving Creator calls us. We are created to grow and develop.
Grace And Time
I believe growing up is a weave of grace and time. It comes in light of hope in God’s Spirit urging us to grow and learn, to choose wisely, love generously, remain faithful, and forgive always. Our family relationships and faith community provide fertile ground for grace to transform us. In our prayer, we keep watching, listening, and seeking the Lord’s will for us.
Saint Paul wrote, “When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:11)
Let us awaken in our family prayer to how the grace of God’s Spirit transforms us.