Raising a child is like nurturing a tree. The early stages of a tree’s existence (seed stage) requires patience, hard work, and knowledge. We ensure it gets the proper amount of nutrients on a consistent basis. Constant vigilance and care help ensure that external conditions of weather, pests, and disease do not permanently damage or contaminate the young plant. These early years require a lot of work with very little return.
At each new stage the conditions and challenges evolve. Some of us study up on how to cope with these challenges. Others learn from family and friends. We do our best and slowly, but surely, we figure things out. The tree’s needs decrease with every year but consistent nourishment is still required to fulfill its purpose of bearing fruit. Eventually, the time and season have come and the tree starts to bear fruit that is sweet and delicious. As the tree continues to mature, it gives more than it takes. Each new fruitful season is a reminder that the sacrifices of our past were well worth the enjoyment we experience in the present.
Likewise, we nurture our children through infancy, toddlership, and adolescence. We do our best to rear them through sound principles that secure and prop them up. Unfortunately, we cannot protect them from everything. Life causes them to grow and mature in their own unique and profound ways. Eventually, these children start to bear fruit of independence, humor, success, and responsibility. Over time they start to give more than they receive and we start to be the recipients of our labor of love. The infant that was once thought of as a burdensome liability becomes one of our greatest assets in our property of life.
I have thought about this process a lot lately as my family evolves and matures (so quickly it seems). My oldest is starting high school while my youngest will tackle second grade. Parenting can still be challenge but I find myself overwhelmed with joy in the personal relationships I am developing with each one of my five children. They are providing me a happiness that I cannot find elsewhere. The tireless work of my past is bearing great fruit that I plan to enjoy for many years to come.
My father and mother are 30 years further along in the cultivation of their own orchard. Counting children, children’s spouses, and grandchildren their family consists of 28 unique and different individuals. This family unit came together a few weeks back for a four day vacation to Bear Lake (picture shown above). This picture is a great reminder of what a lifetime of service, sacrifice, and love can yield. It was great to spend time with this large family as a father, son, husband, brother, and uncle. I can only imagine how fulfilling it must have been for my parents to watch their posterity come together.
Parenthood is hard. It is hard at every stage of the process. Some do better in the early years of infants and toddlers while others excel at connecting with teenagers. This summer has given me a greater perspective on what I am working towards and why the sacrifices of my past and present, in behalf of my children, are worth it. Building a family is a worthy endeavor that appears selfless but, in reality, gives more than it takes (if we do it right). I am grateful I had the faith to start my orchard building days at the young age of 24 because I am loving it in a way I could not comprehend 15 years ago.
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