Steward Their Gifts
Psalms 139:14, NASB, I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.
God had a plan for your children before the foundations of the earth. While this is hard to comprehend with our finite brains, the Bible is very specific about His predestined plans for us and you can read about it in Ephesians 1. He created each of your children specifically to be able to fulfill their God-given destiny on this earth. However, there is a lot to walking in the destiny He has created, because he gave us “freedom of choice”. Each child has an amazing way of showing their giftings very early in life. When I say “giftings”, it can be a huge category. There are Spiritual gifts, and natural gifts.
Today I’m talking about natural giftings, or abilities, and I’m going to lump several together just as a point of reference. They may excel and be good in athletics, music, musical instruments, singing, art (drawing or painting), writing, dancing, outdoor activities, exceptional hand-eye coordination, verbal communication, organization, and the list goes on. We as parents need to recognize them and do our best not to hinder or stifle them. Sounds easy, but as parents we may not always agree with their choices in this area (I will give some examples in a minute), as long as it doesn’t go against your moral or ethical values try to find ways to channel their gifts. I can testify to that several times over! Both our sons wanted to play football and as a mom, I wasn’t excited for them to play that sport due to injury possibilities. But their school had some amazing coaches and I wanted them to learn from them and what it would instill in them from the TEAM aspect. My husband of course, was ALL in for this sport! Then they both wanted to play drums, which I always wanted to play drums when I was younger. I have extremely sensitive ears, which is VERY comical to have drummers in the family! The drums were in our living/office area, and our oldest son would always choose to practice while I was paying bills! I placed cotton in my ears for the first several months until my ears adjusted. In the beginning stages I didn’t let him see me put the cotton in my ears, because I didn’t want to hinder him from this desire. Both of our sons have MANY gifts as do your children, and the challenge can be not to sign them up for EVERYTHING in one year!
Balance is just as important when stewarding their gifts. Don’t allow these activities to take the place of family time, God, church attendance, and rest. With the Lord’s help, we found ways to always adjust and allow them to express their gifts and grow through each experience and we STILL kept the balance of the things I just listed, because it was MOST important to my husband and I.