growth spurts

Probably the most profound relationship we ever experience on this planet for good or not so good is parent to child. The drawing was a mother/daughter commission. The cute little girl in the picture is now a bride to be, and this was her mother's shower gift to her daughter. I was so pleased to be able to make the event and the gift a very special one.

What I've tried to understand within my own life is how to grow into adulthood in my faith. I believe I have a heavenly Father who does watch out for my well-being, helps me to grow if I ask and corrects me, desiring maturity and character development. A loving earthly parent desires the same in a child. I wanted to include what is a familiar prayer I'm sure, written by a confederate Civil War veteran, and I may have written this before, but today it seems especially appropriate:

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve
I was made weak, that I might learn to humbly obey
I asked for health, that I might do great things
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things
I asked for riches, that I might be happy
I was given poverty, that I might be wise
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things
I got nothing that I asked for but everything I hoped for
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered
I am, among (wo)men, most richly blessed

I don't consider that I've suffered like the author of the prayer, but the prayer is about changing one's perspective, learning how to be grateful, learning how to see things as God does, not as we in our small earthly shells tend to. I have waited for four years to see a friend and his family again after serving in a foreign country for that time. There is a weekend get-together planned for this Saturday among friends in the area, and we had already chosen this weekend to visit my son. That is the most important thing we could do, but it strikes me that the things I sometimes most want are the things denied. I almost come to expect this. God knows my heart, there will be other opportunities I suppose, but my loyalties and character are constantly tested until there is nary a murmur or complaint. (Well, LOL!!...almost). The things I try to take into my own hands and mold to my will, even for good purpose, seem to turn into a shapeless lump. I have to trust, and I choose to trust a Father who knows me better than I know me and, getting back to the picture, does prepare His children for adulthood.