i want to grow up to be a "big girl" one day

i find it kinda of hard sometimes to distinguish between the kind of parenting that it takes to raise children in this world and the parenting style of our Heavenly Father. we are born in this world completely dependent upon our parents to take care of us in every way. a baby that is born and never cared for will die from neglect. but, good parents never neglect their children.  they spend their whole lives caring for them, yet teaching them all along the way to become independent and eventually able to function and care for themselves. it would seem kind of odd to see adult children still living at home and sleeping in a crib screaming when they are hungry and needing their diaper changed.

it is important that we teach our kids to eat from utensils by themselves, to use the bathroom, to communicate properly with others, be educated and learn how to work and handle money. actually to not do so is really neglect itself. from the day a child is born, a parent is really teaching that child how to survive independently. how we deal with them and handle their behavior reflects this. as my kids have gotten older, i find myself expecting them to not expect to be taken care of as much, but to help care for others. for example, if they need laundry done, i tell them to throw in a load themselves and to ask everyone else if they have something that needs to be washed as well. i think it would be right to say that the more capable of independence that each of my children becomes as they reach adulthood, the better job i did as a parent. maturity is actually revealed in our kids as they embrace being independent and responsible.

but, it is different with our Heavenly Father. He is not looking for us to become independent of Him.  i have to remind myself of this often because if i don't then i fall into the wrong thinking that His expectations of me are the same as my expectations of my own kids. i am teaching my kids to eventually be independent from me but He is teaching me that i can not be independent from Him.  i think it would be right to say that spiritual maturity is actually revealed in me as i recognize and embrace my dependency upon Him. the more i understand this, the more i understand mercy and grace and the more i understand my Heavenly Father's provision for me through Jesus Christ. it becomes ever more clear to me that if i remain independent, then i am behaving and only seeing myself as a spiritual babe with little knowledge of Truth, but as i grow up and mature i recognize my weaknesses and inabilities and become more dependent upon the finished work of the cross in me instead of my own efforts before God.

all i know is that every single day, i recognize that i need Him more and more! i guess that means that i am growing up in Christ just a little! i really do want to stop trying to make it without Him in this life and grow up to be a "big girl" one day!