I have never grown parsley before. Check it out – a teeny tiny baby parsley leaf! The very first one! How exciting!
I have never grown basil before. Check out the teeny tiny basil leaves! I had no idea they looked like that.
Growing plants is a lot like raising kids. Basil and parsley sprouts look a lot alike when their first little shoots poke up out of the soil.
To be honest, babies look a lot alike when they are born. We lovingly hold our precious little newborn in our arms … and wonder who they will grow up to be. Then along comes baby #2 … looking remarkably similar to baby #1. We hold precious little baby #2 in our arms … and wonder who they will grow up to be.
We think to ourselves: I’ve never been a parent before. All of this is so new! So exciting! So terrifying!
Time blurs past – diapers, laundry, dishes, exhaustion, never-ending teaching moments. Our precious little bundles of joy are growing.
Oh look! Check out it out! What a unique gifting I see emerging in my son! How exciting! I wonder what God is going to do with that.
Oh wow – what amazing character strengths I see emerging in my daughter! Wow – that’s amazing! I wonder how God is going to use that!
Watching the little parsley and basil sprouts as they develop completely different leaf & plant structures is so similar to watching children grow … watching in amazement as their different personalities emerge, as their unique giftings begin to shine, as their strengths & weaknesses shape who they are.
God is amazing! Only God can make parsley to be parsley, and basil to be basil. Parsley has its own specific, unique flavor. As such, it is used in uniquely specific dishes. Basil, on the other hand, has its own specific, unique flavor. It is used in its own uniquely specific dishes. Pesto is pesto because it is made with basil. Pesto would not be pesto if parsley were substituted.
So also, God makes each child uniquely special … to have a uniquely specific impact on the world … which only they can have.
God is amazing!
Thank you God for making parsley to be parsley. Thank you for making basil to be basil.
And thank you for making each and every child to be exactly who you made them to be! … wonderfully special and unique! … in order to impact the world as only they can!
Psalm 139:14 – “I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
