Our Deep Hope

What is your deep hope for each of your children? 

We have plenty of hopes for our children – the right teacher, the good classmate who becomes a trusted friend, kind words spoken to them at the right time – this list could go on.

Or maybe it’s more experience focused – great education, wide-ranging experiences, to be an elite sportsperson/artist/musician/academic.

When our children are young, we approach the intense and enduring experience of parenthood with a hope that they will stand out from the crowd, even when we are not around.  We want to control their world (at least a little bit) to protect them, and to maximise the chances that a dream we hold for them will come true.

As they approach teenage years, we realise that they are turning to others for support and affirmation, and away from their parents.  That can be very unsettling.  Do hopes change?  Yes, sometimes quite radically.  For some folk, that their teenager remains safe is all they can hope for. 

When our children reach adulthood, the relationship changes again, as do the hopes. The hopes for their children, their life-partners and marriage, the provision of shelter, food and other good things.

I love the way one parent put it this week:

“My deep hope is that all my children, each in their own way, come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.  In all honesty, that’s the one thing I hope, above all else, that they get from this school – an experience that makes it impossible to resist Jesus and his claims on their life.”

As your family’s partners in your children’s education, let’s pray that each of our students sees glimpses of Jesus in the way we, as the adults in their lives, seek to be part of their formation as young women and men.  May we show what it is to be people who desire God’s kingdom through obedience and service, in ways they find attractive and undeniable.

Shalom