Super Heroes in Training

"Wow!" people say , "You have got 5 children and you are expecting another one! You guys are pros!". When they say that I laugh real hard! 

No, we are NOT pros...in fact far from it! 

Every time a new life is created a new  adventure begins. Every time the pregnancy test comes out positive a new challenge arises and when the nine months are over and the baby still hasn't arrived ... and a few contractions start and I say to Pierpaolo ... " I think it's time..." and then it isn't ... you realise that even after five you don't know it all.

Thank God for that! Every child is truly different, a new creation with different needs, with a different character, with a different personality. Every child brings new life with him (or in our case usually her) and regenerates us as parents.

All parents like their children are Super Heroes in Training. If you think about it waking up at night to feed a baby or to take care of a sick child... or even sprinting out of bed at 4 o'clock in the morning because  you heard something the sounded like a "vomiting sound"... requires super powers... super strength, super speed and super hearing... and most importantly of all Super PATIENCE!

 I wasn't born with any of these qualities but every child has certainly required me to develop them all. Every child brings us new super powers... but also allows us to discover many of our human weaknesses and failures.  

What a grace this is... to discover that no matter how many children or how many years of experience we have before us, we are very human and need REAL SUPERNATURAL HELP!  We discover as parents that we are not always that loving, that our patience is limited (sometimes very limited) and that giving up your time (if such a thing as "your time" even exists anymore) is not always that easy. 

Our nature wants to do good, but because it is a fallen nature... it needs an extra boost! We needn't being discouraged by our mistakes and imperfections because it's precisely here that our strength can be discovered ... it is in our weakness that we encounter Christ! It is only by Grace that Nature is perfected. As for the children, there is nothing more real than seeing their parents recognise their humanity and their limitations and turning to the only one who is perfect.