My husband was a college soccer player. He loves hockey, football, baseball, and all things sports. He even goes as far to watch golf on TV. When we were first married, I used to think, “who watches every single sport and knows all the people”? A serious sports fanatic who is: My husband. 

I feel like he’s been waiting for the day when our children would have the same passion for such things. However, when our daughter wore her pink and purple unicorn snow boots to a basketball game, we crossed it off the list. She enjoyed soccer but not because of the sport or friends she made. Rather, she liked that he treated her to Timbits or a waffle after each practice. 

As our son has grown to a sport’s age, we presented a number of options. He agreed to soccer, and my husband was thrilled to help out with the team. Yet, when the practices and games rolled around, so did our son, literally. He rolled on and off the field, asked to be taken out, because he was “tired of this.”

This year for our son’s birthday, my parents gave him a chess set. Both my husband and I kind of laughed at the gift. We are not a family who plays chess, we thought. To be honest, we had never learned how to play. Despite our bad attitudes though, our son loves everything about the game. So as his passion for the game grew, so did ours. We now play as a family, and to be totally honest, we really enjoy it. 

I have found that sometimes as parents we try to recreate our own childhood. We push our kids to pursue interests and passions that we have. The reality is that God uniquely designed and created them. They are one of a kind, and I am fairly certain there’s a lesson in sanctification as we start to recognize that our child or children may not be the baseball, softball, football, or cheering star that we once were. They may like and enjoy things different from what we are used to or even comfortable with. But rather than pushing our plans and agenda on them, we need to set down those expectations and enter into their world. Jesus did just that for us and thank God He did. His entrance into our world is now shaping each of us. When we enter into our children’s world, it helps shape them through love. It’s honestly quite beautiful too.

David wrote “For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well” (Psalms 139:13-14, HCSB). We know this. It is etched in each one of us, and it is our job to etch this into our children’s hearts by giving them opportunities to try things to help build their confidence. 

Whether our children enjoy our favorite pastimes or not, God intended and planned for them to be in our family. Let’s work on shepherding the person God is growing, not the person we want to grow. 

Remember, friends, there are no mistakes with God. “[He] is not a man who lies, or a son of man who changes His mind. Does He speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19, HCSB).