As most of you know Tim, Dylan, and I welcomed a new member to the family back in November. Now prior to Brendan’s arrival, there was some worry about what life would be like with a second child. Twice as much laundry, twice as many baths, messes, meals, and twice as much work all around. Despite this fact, I felt pretty good going into this. After all, we had already had one child and somehow managed to muddle through getting him to three and a half years of age despite the fact that most of the time we had no idea what we were doing in the early days of his life. Neither of us had had any experience with infants before we had Dylan. We had no idea about sleep training, when to feed them, diaper rashes, when to start solid foods or any of the other things that go along with raising a baby. But somehow we figured it out and Dylan seemed no worse for the wear. This is what led to an overly confident attitude about how it would be incorporating a second baby into the family. Prior to Brendan’s birth, I felt confident that I would continue to make homemade meals most nights of the week, keep a clean and organized house, and do crafting projects with Dylan on a regular basis, as well as continue to work from home several days a week---delusion. Having one child did not prepare me for what it is like having two. It was not realistic to think that somehow having raised one through infancy would give me the answers I needed to raise this second baby. Being a parent means having to constantly be changing, adapting, and learning and to be honest sometimes we get too comfortable and don’t want to change. There is no point in life where we have learned all we need to know. I was too comfortable thinking that if my methods for raising an infant worked with one child, it will work with another child, or even work with the same child a second time.
I think our faith is a lot like this. Sometimes we get too comfortable thinking that we have come to a place where we don’t need to learn, develop, or grow anymore. That we’ve been doing this Christianity thing for so long that there is no room left for change. Faith has to keep growing or it dies. There is never a point where there isn’t something more we need to learn or experience. When we become sedentary in our faith, thinking that we have it all figured out, life tends to slap us with the unexpected. We find it difficult to adapt to the new situation that’s been thrust upon us. We feel our frustration level rise as we think to ourselves, “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. This isn’t what I planned for. I’m not prepared to deal with this.” The nice thing is, if we are willing, God will help us walk through these situations, but sometimes this requires letting go of old assumptions, and realizing that we know a lot less than we think we do.