A couple weeks ago it was Parent Teacher conference night for my kids. I approach these events with a mix of excited anticipation and dread. Some of my kids excel in school and some of them struggle. My love for them isn’t dependent on how they do in school, but these conferences are often a moment of reckoning as we talk through the strengths and challenges of each child.
I left one particular conference feeling a bit defeated and heavy for my child who is working hard to overcome some academic and emotional challenges. I was feeling like a failure as a parent, and then I saw a picture of my child hanging on the wall outside the classroom. It was accompanied by a sheet of questions my child had answered and there near the end it said, “When I grow up I want to be” and my precious little one had written “missionary because I want to tell people about God.”
It was just the perspective adjustment I needed. I don’t know how the apostle Paul did on his spelling tests in the third grade. I haven’t heard if Aquila and Priscilla did great on their standardized tests. I’m not sure if Peter was a math genius or if he really struggled to memorize his multiplication tables, but I know these people were called by God to share his good news to those who needed to hear it.
My child may always have a hard time with certain elements of school and that’s okay. Academic struggles do not need to define the identity of our children.
May we as parents keep our priorities in the right place, encouraging our kids to grow in the fruit of the spirit and praising their progress. Let’s teach our children to do their schoolwork as unto the Lord, even when it’s a struggle. Let’s see and value the work they’re putting in, the growth they’re experiencing even through their failures and not always rest our parenting pride on their scholastic accomplishments. Let’s be parents who raise children who are emboldened to preach the gospel whatever their intellectual abilities or academic challenges.
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