As I reflect on all the questions I've answered as a parent, I wonder "why" myself.

Ahhh, the many-textured craft of parenting...the tender moments, the hilarity, the sheer thrill of shaping small human beings in the image of God...

Hmmm, but what is this tendency in the clay to resist molding?  Is it possible that newborns arrive with personality and opinions fresh from the womb?  Indeed, they do.

I recall many conversations leading up until this very day, many punctuated with the question, "Why?"


"Mommy, pick me up!  Mommy, why can't you pick me up?"

"Because I have a baby in my tummy.  It would hurt me."

"But you picked up Whitney.  Why?"

"Because she's light, honey."

"And I'm dark?"  Julie wailed the question.

Little Samuel was puzzled by his tighty-whities. "Why do I have fruit tags on my underwear?  Did Jesus and the disciples wear fruit tags, too?" 

As the kids grew into teenagers, their questions were not so much curiousity as statements concerning the banality of our homelife and values.  However, I played dense and seized them as opportunities for sage responses-- whether they wanted to hear or not!

"Why is there never any food in this house?"

"What use is history to anyone after high school?"

"God doesn't care how I dress.  Why can't I wear my jeans to church?"  (yeah, right, the ones fringed and ratty the last four inches)

"Why are you crying?  Don't you want me to be honest?"

"Why don't we ever have any money?"

"Why is Daddy the way he is?"

 "Why do you always...why do we never...."

Are you a new parent?  Prepare yourself.  You will need to spend 30 minutes a day in Bible study before your children wake up.  Assemble a support group of friends and family who can give you advice and babysit occasionally.  Be aware of the underlying questions:

"Mom and Dad, are you really in charge?  Do you love me enough to correct and guide me?  Are you going to let me grow up without a moral compass, or will you teach me right from wrong?  Are you tough enough to love me when I'm obnoxious, and wise enough to train me so that others find me easy to love?"

Actually, you will answer these as you go.  You don't need to know it all today.  But those wonderful reward moments only come to those who hang in there.  They happen to the parent who values the kids above the job.  They occur when parents love God more than each other and the kids, and they exalt one another in devotion to God. 

My biggest "why" question goes like this: "God, why did my parents let me live when I was a smart-mouthed teenager, and how are you going to give me the strength to finish raising these precious children?" He tends to answer me in little revelations, day to day.