Einstein once said:
“The only source of knowledge is experience”
It’s funny how sometimes you can know all there is to know on a topic but until you actually experience something, your knowledge is just a theory.
Living the dream
I have four children under the age of eight. The most common question I get from strangers (and sometimes from friends) is, “How do you do it?” It’s a valid question.
Most people find the idea of a larger than average family at best overwhelming and at worst sheer madness, but I’m never really sure how to answer this question because the truth is, I don’t know. Many people who ask this will tell me that they have children of their own (normally two) and the idea of managing four makes their eyes grow big and their pulse race. I can only imagine what mental image they’re conjuring up of what it takes to parent my brood, but I’m fairly certain that it’s much worse than my actual reality.
If there is one thing I’ve learnt it’s that no two children or parents or homes are the same. What one person sees as hard, another will find a walk in the park. For some one child is a handful and for others… well, you get the picture.
Walk a mile in their shoes
Regardless of the size of their brood I’m fairly certain that even on their best days most parent will tell you that raising a child takes every ounce of strength, patience and character that they have within them. Those that make it look easy are, under the surface, holding it all together and hoping they get enough right to make up for the mistakes that happen on a regular basis. Just like a swan, on the surface it may be graceful gliding but underneath is where all the action is. The honest truth is that until you’ve been there and had a go you really don’t know what a day in the life of a parent is like or more to the point, what it will be like for you!
See for yourself
I’ve discovered faith is similar. I’ve been a Christian all my life. It doesn’t matter how well I explain what I believe, give the reasons for my faith in God or even let you observe me living day to day in a relationship with Jesus, none of those things will ever give a complete picture of what it is to know God, they can only ever be second hand information. The only way to have a true view of what faith in God is like to experience it for yourself. There maybe similarities and crossovers but ultimately a relationship is unique to the individual.
So why would you judge something that is supposed to be experienced personally based on someone else’s reality?