I was watching some videos of my son in his earlier years. He was around 2 years old. Ironic how we remember things differently in our mind than what actually happened. During that time I could understand every word Ian tried to say, but looking at the video now, I realize that he couldn’t speak all that clearly then. One thing I did notice is that I wasted various moments with him by trying to “motivate” him to look at the camera or do this or that. I was trying to get him to do things that I thought would be good to have captured on tape. I realize now how many moments that could have been more pure “Ian” if I had just lightened up a little. I catch myself now trying to get him to play sports more. He does like sports to an extent, but he is much more passionate about trains and science. So I try to push him into what I think an ideal Father-son relationship should be at times. Instead of being more interested in what makes him happy, I try to make him do things that I think will make him (and me) happy. I realize that I should lighten up my expectations and let him grow into who he is in his own time.
Sometimes as Christians, we, as well as other people, put expectations on us and we try and force ourselves to meet those expectations and often lose focus on God as we try to be what we think we should be in the time frame we think it should be achieved in. We need to learn that life is a journey and a process and while God is encouraging us to grow into what we should be, he also has the appropriate time frame. And what your spirit and God say is what you should be will often not meet others expectations at times. Lighten up and enjoy the journey, enjoy yourself growing up in Christ, because God is certainly enjoying watching you grow.