Eating the Bread

I work with a lot of parents who feel their attempt at parenting is vain. They fear that they will not see the fruit of their labor. Funny. The fruit that they are cultivating is not for themselves but for their children. The fruit is their children. They are not laboring so that they will have a great harvest but that their children will reap a great harvest. That their children will be a great harvest unto themselves.

We are not perfect but we do the best we can. We are learning as we go. We make mistakes but our heart is right. Hopefully, the years that the locusts have eaten will be restored. And one day we will see the fruit of our labor. We cast the bread of parenting – striving, sweating, worrying, playing, giving, sacrificing, loving – on the water and it will return to us at a later time.

The fact is that whatever we cast on the water will return to us – all that we cast will return. This is why it is important to cast love and commitment – all of yourself. Sometimes we cast impatience, frustration, and ignorance. My theory is that if your heart is right and you do the best you can there will be some positive return. If you’re striving unselfishly, pursuing your children then your efforts will not be in vain. I like to hear stories of the bread returning. What a satisfying meal to taste the sweet success of mature, responsible, respectable children who return to demonstrate thanks.

My waters are calm now. I’m on this side of the storm when my children see me as God. I can do no wrong in their sight. I must make the most of these calm waters to prepare for the tumultuous waves ahead. The more I prepare now the easier the waves will seem. And many years after the storms have passed and the waters grow calm again will my bread return unto me. How do I prepare, you ask? I must give them myself daily. Nothing less will do.