By Carrie Brown McWhorter
Content Editor, The Alabama Baptist
Our family laughs often about our frequent failure to navigate well using GPS.
Once we found ourselves at the launch site for a paddle trip down the Coosa River — only we were on the opposite side of the river from the rest of our group.
Another time we found ourselves at the headquarters of the Mississippi state parks system instead of at the actual state park in Jackson where we were going to camp that night.
The biggest fail of all came in New York City.
To avoid restrictions on propane tanks in the city’s tunnels, I had mapped a camper-friendly route. Only the GPS didn’t know my plan, and at a pivotal moment, my husband followed the GPS directions instead of mine.
The result was a tour of the heart of Manhattan — Park Avenue, Broadway, 5th Avenue — all with our camper in tow.
In all these instances, of course, the failure was user error. The navigation system was correct, but in each case, an important detail was missed that caused a wrong turn (or several).
Navigating life can feel a lot like those experiences, especially navigating life as a parent these days.
There’s a line from a song in the musical “Dear Evan Hansen” that often comes to my mind in anxious-mom moments.
“Does anybody have a map?” the mother characters sing as they try to connect with their teenage sons. “Does anybody know how … to do this? I don’t know if you can tell, but this is me just pretending to know.”
Myriad issues
The storyline is intense and often disturbing, dealing with the myriad issues teens face today: social isolation, bullying, relationships, gender and sexuality issues, drugs, suicide.
Name a contemporary cultural issue, and the musical probably addresses it.
And again reflecting the culture, the characters never look to THE map — God’s Word — that we as believers know points the way in coping with the pain and struggles of life.
So when the lyrical question pops into my mind, I also hear the Holy Spirit’s reassurance: “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not turn from it” (Prov. 22:6).
In a sin-sick world, it’s a hope-filled reminder that the seeds of faith we plant in our children will be watered by others and grown by God for His glory.
This Mother’s Day, I’m reading Paul’s words in Philippians 1:6–10 as the prayer of a parent, lifting up my children to the One whose direction never fails:
“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy … being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Sharing in God’s grace
“It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart. … You share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ — to the glory and praise of God.”
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound … in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and … [be] filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ … .” (Philippians 1:9–10)
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