To live is to die.........

Zachary rode his bike to school for the first time today. I know that when I was younger I was a lot more independent than my kids are now, but times are different. Most parents are almost living in paranoia that something tragic is going to happen to their kids. I have my fears but at some point I need to let go and give them room to grow up. As my kids get older what they really look forward to is their independence. He rides his bike all the time. In fact he's kind of bored with it already. But this morning he was elated to get on the bike to go to school. Of course it had nothing to do with riding his bike. His excitement was about his independence. I think he felt grown up to go to school on his own.

As I was watching him ride away I couldn't help but to think how he's going to have to relearn all of that with his relationship with our heavenly Father. One of the most important lessons about being a man is to be self reliant, to not rely on others and learn to take care of yourself. But when it comes to our spiritual growth it's exactly the opposite. If we don't learn to depend on Him more and more we will never grow. Our whole Christian duty is to die to oneself and to live hidden in Him. I guess this is what we call a paradox. To live is to die and to die is to gain.

My prayer this morning is that I would be able to disciple my children to become independent when it comes to this world and dependent when it comes to our true citizenship in heaven.