God is Not a Lawn-Mower Parent!

In recent years parenting has been tagged with plenty of labels: tiger, helicopter, elephant, free-range, etc. The school year of 2018-19 began with a new moniker, "lawnmower parent."

A post that went viral on WeAreTeachers.com explained how lawnmower parents mow down all of their children's challenges, struggles and discomforts.

In the post titled “Lawnmower Parents Are the New Helicopter Parents & We Are Not Here for It,” which has since received 2,300 likes and 12,000 shares on the social platform, the unnamed teacher recalls being summoned to the school’s office to pick up something a parent dropped off for a student.

Believing it would be an essential item, like “an inhaler or money for dinner,” the teacher was shocked to find that a father went out of his way to deliver an insulated water bottle for his daughter.

Wearing a suit for the midday dropoff, the writer recalled that the dad “sheepishly” began with “Hi, sorry.”

“Remy kept texting me that she needed it. I texted back, ‘Don’t they have water fountains at your school?,’ but I guess she just had to have it out of the bottle,” the father reportedly said.

“He laughed, as if to say, ‘Teenagers, am I right?’ ” the teacher remembered.

Though the educator voiced empathy with “the motivations of a person not wanting to see their child struggle,” they could not believe that the parent of a middle schooler would be pampered over such a minor matter as forgetting their water bottle at home.

The writer continued to define the “lawn mower parents” as those willing to go to “whatever lengths necessary to prevent their child from having to face adversity, struggle, or failure.”

Editorial Director of the website, Hannah Hudson, shared a few examples. A high-school student's parent asked a teacher to walk her teenager to class to assure he wouldn't be late. One parent requested that someone in the cafeteria blow on her child's hot lunch to cool it down.

In their attempts to help a child succeed, lawnmower parents take away virtually every opportunity for maturity and resilience to emerge. Hudson suggested it's not an emergency unless the cell-phone-totting student would be willing to go to the school office and use the secretary's phone. All parents want to help their child succeed; we just need to make sure we're really helping. USAToday.com, 9/19/18

New Living Translation Chapter 1

2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

There was a story told recently about a king in Africa who had a close friend that he grew up with. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is good!"

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off. Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, "This is good!". To which the king replied, "No, this is NOT good!" and proceeded to send his friend to jail.

About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took them to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake.

As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone that was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.

As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend. "You were right" he said, "it was good that my thumb was blown off." And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. "And so I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this."

"No," his friend replied, "this is good!"

"What do you mean, 'this is good'! How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year."

"If I had NOT been in jail, I would have been with you.

When facing adversity, there are only two options: grow or suffer.

ENDURANCE

When we first moved to northern VA, Karen would ask me to go on a walk… being adverse to walking, I would give any excuse possible… Eventually, I went on that walk - short easy… Years later I now love my morning walks, it took a while to build up the endurance - both of mind and body...

The Choice to Take the road of JOY in the face of Adversity - or to Be Angry, Sullen, Sad or even act Stupidly faces each one of us.

God is **not** a lawn-mower parent when it comes to adversity. Our prayer Life should not be a reflection of the spoiled brat mentality of the earlier story… Let’s face it, when God provides “water” to drink He is looking at the need of our SOUL

God has always intended for our faltering, difficult baby steps to turn into a consistent ascent of the mountains of this life by taking on the tough trek with a heart filled with trust

When Facing Adversity, God has already provided the Tools needed to Build our Trust

During the Spanish-American War, Clara Barton was overseeing the work of the Red Cross in Cuba. One day Colonel Theodore Roosevelt came to her, wanted to buy food for his sick and wounded Rough Riders.

But she refused to sell him any. Roosevelt was perplexed. His men needed the help and he was prepared to pay out of his own funds.

When he asked someone why he could not buy the supplies, he was told, "Colonel, just ask for it!" A smile broke over Roosevelt's face. Now he understood; the provisions were not for sale.

All he had to do was simply ask and they would be given freely.

Do Not Ask God, Then Rescind the Request Because some Earthly Agent offered a more Enticing Alternative...

Matthew West has written a new song - ALL IN.

My feet are frozen on this middle ground The water's warm here but the fire's gone out I played it safe for so long the passion left Turns out safe is just another word for regret [Pre-Chorus 1] So, I step to the edge and I take a deep breath We're all dying to live but we're all scared to death And this is the part where my head tells my heart You should turn back around but there's no turning back now [Chorus] I'm going all in Headfirst into the deep end I hear You calling And this time the fear won't win I'm going, I'm going all in (I'm going, I'm going...) all in (I'm going, I'm going)

In the words of Wilbur Rees: "I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please—not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant worker. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of a womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I'd like to buy just $3 worth of God, please."

When You Make the Choice to Ask God for Wisdom Let Him Source that Request. Do Not Become Weary in Waiting for Heaven to Dispense What you Need!

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