This quote is such a relied! It’s easy to get wrapped up in being the perfect parent and “getting it all right” that we become overwhelmed. What a great reminder that our kids just need us.
In their book, “Raising Girls”, Counselors Goff and Trevathan say, “Families don’t have to be perfect to make a difference. In actuality, THE MORE THE LINES DON’T MEET JUST RIGHT, often the more life and passion and personality that is contained within. Girls don’t need perfection, they just need a group of people willing to walk alongside, love them, and help them transform into the women God is calling them to be.”
Let’s not be like the Pharisees who thought all “their lines met up just right”, but rather, let’s hold onto a humility like the one who saw his need for Jesus in Luke 18:
“Two men went up to a temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God I thank you that I am not like other people–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or evenlike this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘GOD, HAVE MERCY ON ME, A SINNER.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Jesus
Jesus recognized this man’s need for him and lifted him up. When we see we are indeed human and in need of Jesus, he will also lift us up.
I think our kids are also refreshed when we admit that we mess up too. That we also need grace. I remember asking author Tedd Tripp at a conference how not to come across as constantly looking down on our kids and like we have it all together when we correct them. He said to get down on their level. To tell them we are working on the same things. To show humility.
Lord, when the lines don’t meet up just right, and we let our kids down, please remind us that they just need us. Help us not get bogged down in being the perfect parent that we miss what our kids really need- us. I pray for each family reading this, that you would fill them with your strength and wisdom. Help them to be encouraged that each of them is the exact person you have created to be the parent of his or her sweet child. Give them your peace today to breathe and simply enjoy their kids. In Jesus’ Name, amen.
Linsey Driskill 