Tools of Transformation

Author and parent, Gary Thomas writes, By God’s marvelous design few life experiences humble us quite as effectively as parenting. As parents, we exchange our formerly spotless houses, ironed clothes, and ordered lives for the chaos of an incontinent, noisy, spit-producing being with a temper that needs to be tamed and with a piercing cry that rivals the sharpest finger nails ever scraped across a chalk board.


This tiny tyrant is providentially placed into our house with one grand program: to mold his or her parents into the image of our Lord (Sacred Parenting 46). The great irony of parenting is this: As we strive to shape our children, God uses our children to shape us.

In the words of Tamara Boggs: “Through raising our children, God is rearing us” (Children are a Blessing from the Lord 17). Each child in God’s hand is a tool of transformation. Some youngsters are paint brushes: they open our eyes to hues of delight we’d otherwise miss. Others are scalpels:  they chisel and scrape away at our pride. Still others are sandpaper: they smooth out our rough spots of selfish ambition and false pretense and leave a smooth layer of altruism and authenticity.

The children in our family have not landed there by happenchance. They are an intricate piece of God’s continuing work of redemption and perfection. Oh, if we can learn to glory in God’s marvelous ways, then the hard times in parenting, the challenges without answers, the disappointments and the joys gain purpose beyond the moment. If we can see the mark of God’s craftsmanship not only in our children but through our children, then we become spectators to one of the greatest shows on earth- the evolution of hearts that are bearing the mark of the Master.

In one of God’s most brilliant ironies, he uses the process of raising children to become adults to help adults become more like children. Remember, Jesus said we must become like children to enter the kingdom of God. Children often feel overwhelmed, but in our arrogance as adults, we start to think we have everything figured out- until God in his mercy sends us children, and we realize how much wisdom, character, patience, understanding, and godliness we lack (Thomas, Devotions for Sacred Parenting).

We are wise to humble ourselves and let God to use the tools in His hands to transform us. For in the end, we are the model are children will likely follow. For better or worse, just as God created man and woman in his image, so we as parents often end up creating boys and girls in our image. Jesus said, “Everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). In light of that sobering truth, we invite God to pinch and shape and modify us as much as He needs to in order to fashion us into a reflection of His Son. That way, when our children aim to be like us, they ultimately become like Jesus.

This week, let’s ask God to help us see our offspring as tools in His hand; tools that He is faithfully using to transform our hearts as we seek Him first.