If you think about it a farmer doesn’t ‘grow’ anything. The farmer can’t ‘make’ a seed germinate and mature nor make a tree bear fruit. What the farmer can do however is to provide a potent atmosphere for growth and maturity.

The farmer prepares the soil through tilling and fertilizing, ensuring the precise conditions exist to sustain growth. The farmer ensures that the seeds are planted in the soil at the right depth. The farmer waters and nurtures the plant so that it has the nutrients needed to sustain growth.

As the seedling grows, the farmer looks to see if the growth looks healthy or if it needs some more nutrients or if it requires a change in conditions. The farmer is there to monitor the seedling until it becomes the beautiful daisy it was meant to become.

And isn’t that what we do as parents? We can’t ‘make’ our children become everything they were meant to be become.

But…we can till the soil of their mind and expose it to bright light and air so their roots will grow and grow deep. We provide them with unconditional love and our confidence that they are ‘good’ and we shepherd them when we need to back on the right path.

We till the soil further by helping them to discover who they are wired to be, recognizing their strengths, gifts and abilities along the way. We let them practice using their strengths or ‘try on’ different roles both at play when they are young and as they grow, by taking on some responsibility at home or in our community.

As loving parents, we hover when we need to, watch from afar when we have to, and ultimately provide them some freedom at the right time, so they can begin finding the right depth in their lives.

They grow deep, strong roots through the love they have for life and its’ Creator and the connection they have with family and friends. All of these connections are like threads that are woven together to form the tapestry of their rich lives. With their roots firmly planted, they are connected to everything they need for today, tomorrow and always.

We use moments that happen in our lives and theirs, to teach them that in life, it is not what happens to us that matters, it is how we handle what happens to us, that counts the most.

We nurture our children, care for them, feed them physically, emotionally and spiritually…and then one beautiful day this amazing daisy blossoms before our eyes. Grown and matured, they come into the fullness of their lives as intended and we can sit back and think, ‘it was a good year for our crops this year’.

Happy farming!

Deb Ingino
www.MyWiredStyle.com
“Success for your child is not learned, it is simply discovered and nurtured”