Me Thinks

May I share another lesson that I learned on trek?

At the beginning of the trek, the youth from the stake were divided into families and assigned a Ma and a Pa.  The youth were mixed up by age, by wards, by size, and by attitude.  The Mas and Pas were excited to meet the youth that would be in their family.  I don't know all of the youth in the stake, but I know a lot of them.  I noticed that some Mas and Pas were assigned youth that were strong, and from good, stable families.  I heard some Mas and Pas raving about the kids in their group.  They weren't taking credit for the good kids in their family, but if they had, I would have silently thought, "Hmmm...they came good to you.  They would have been stalwart in any family."  One Ma and Pa had a girl in their group that has had serious mental and emotional problems for years.  She wandered away from the trek family often, she came to the stake wanting attention and medicine, and she needed emotional boosts throughout the trek. Her Ma and Pa felt badly that she wandered off and needed so much help.  It would not have mattered what Ma and Pa she was put with,  this young woman would have probably acted the same way.  She came om trek with some issues and though the Ma and Pa did everything they could to love and welcome her, she was a tough one to handle.

This experience was an analogy to me of parenting God's children here on earth.  Some children come to earth good.  Because the veil has been drawn, I cannot remember what happened in the preexistence, but perhaps there were classes, or tutoring, or something that separated and prepared some people more than others.  I feel like my children came good.  Though Matthew and I have worked to provide a loving and stable home environment, I do not feel that we can take the credit for the way the children turned out.  And now I understand more clearly that some children come to earth with special and/or difficult packages, and that a parent may try everything they can to help the child, but the outcome may not be as they wish.

Success for the Mas and Pas, was not measured by how many of the youth in their families loved the trek, or how strong the youth's testimonies are, or if the youth had a good time.  The Mas and Pas cannot control those things, but they did control some things, such as:  the effort that they put in as Ma and Pa, the love that they showed, the prayers that were offered in behalf of the youth, and the determination to help the youth complete the trek.

Sometimes parents are judged on outcome, not on effort, and that just isn't fair.