At the time, not yet being parents, Ryan and I were completely clueless of the numerous situations parents find themselves in and the countless decisions they have to make on an incessant basis all while bearing for years the daily responsibility of rearing little ones up into responsible adults.  As we sat at a crowded Chick-Fil-A (is there any other type?), we overheard a mom say to her kids, “Do you want to sit inside or outside?”

One child responded, “Outside.”

The mom then shocked us by responding, “We’re going to sit inside.”

Why had she even bothered to ask what her kids wanted?!  Clearly, she didn’t care.  Clearly, she was going to do whatever she wanted to do regardless of her child’s desires.  What in the world?! Strange!

Fast forward several years.  Now as seasoned parents, we, after occasionally, unintentionally committing similar parental patterns, often acknowledge the moment by saying to each other, “Do you want to sit inside or outside?” It’s not that we don’t care about what our kids want.  We are just trying to manage so many different things with our limited brains.  The best path isn’t always obvious at first. We don’t always think through all the different factors efficiently, quickly, and adequately. Sometimes new data suddenly emerges, which affects our reasoning of the situation.

Life Lesson One: Parents have limited brains. Clearly.

Life Lesson Two: Something that currently makes no sense at all might become crystal clear down the road in a different season of life. Keep on living and humbly learning!

Life Lesson Three: Though we are so finite that we cannot even quickly figure out if our families should sit inside or outside at a fast food place at times, we, who are Christians, have a perfect parent, God the Father, who has no limitations on His ability to think through a situation. He’s had everything figured out from eternity past. I Peter 1 describes Him. He is worthy of our absolute trust in all situations. How well are we trusting our Father? And, if He isn’t yet your Father, know that His fatherly embrace is wide enough for each of us. Simply run into His open arms! (Matthew 11:25-30; Luke 15:11-32)