Who would do such a thing to a child?

Matthew 19: 14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and don’t prevent them. For of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Once there was a man who always wanted a racehorse. One day, quite out of chance he was given one. But it didn’t look like the one he had wanted. He was now forced to feed and take care of this less-than-desirable horse. For some reason, the horse loved the man. So it trotted around trying to get the man’s attention. Day after day this horse, tried to run as fast as it could to please the man.

Once in a while, the man stood at the fence watching the horse run with all its heart, but when the horse came over to where the man stood, the man criticized the horse. You need to bend your knees higher. You're not stretching your legs out far enough. Over and over the man only told the horse what it wasn’t doing right. No matter how much the horse tried, it was never enough. Years went by and after a while, the horse finally lost all desire to please the man and ran away; never to see the man again.

But the man had damaged the horse's ability to believe in himself so much that all through the rest of the horse's life he felt that any time he tried to run fast, he’d fail.

One day, as the horse was plodding along in life, another man saw him and stopped to look at the horse. This man knew that the horse was meant to be a racehorse. So this man bought the horse and took it home to care for it.

Every day, he encouraged the horse to do his best. He gave the horse short distances to run at first until the horse could begin to see that it still could run. Finally, the horse began to run longer and faster. The horse made enough progress to once again see himself as a beautiful racehorse. But there was still something in the horse that it never could quite get over; being made to feel like a failure by the first man.

The thing that’s hard to understand is this, why would this man do everything he could to discourage his own racehorse? You’d think that he would have done the opposite. But no, instead of encouraging the horse, praising the horse’s efforts, and showing the horse that he was loved regardless if he ran fast; the man heaped discouragement upon his horse.

This story isn’t about a horse; it's about children.

Why for the love of God would any parent constantly criticize everything their child does? To what advantage does that help? If anything, it destroys any hope that child has. And the worst yet is that child lives their life feeling that no matter what they do it will never be enough. It’s an uphill climb for any person who has been made to feel that everything they do isn’t good enough but it’s especially damaging for a child.

I believe that children come into this world with childlike hope. Most parents clap and cheer when their child takes its first steps as though their child just invented walking.

It’s supposed to be natural for parents to cheer on the accomplishments of their children. Especially, a child who isn’t as bright, strong, or as talented as other children. But to purposely break the spirit in a child who is trying their best is cruel.

I know that there are no perfect parents. I dare to say that even the best of parents would admit to not doing everything right.

I always had to ask myself how different I would have been had I had a nurturing encouraging father instead of like the first man in this story.

But I was bought by another Man; Jesus Christ. And HE loved me back to wholeness. I’m not that damaged child who tried her best every day to please an earthly father who said over and over, “What you do isn’t good enough.”

So maybe you’ve read this far wondering why I’d be writing this. Yes, I thank my Heavenly Father for all the love and changes he has made in me. So many times he has reminded me that He knit me in my mother’s womb and saw me before any eyes saw me. He also knew who my father would be and how he would damage my life.

These are some of the questions I’ve asked God and still don’t know the answers. But I do know this, no matter where God sends us into this world, or how he sends us, He never loses sight of us. He has his reasons.

I quit trying to spend my life trying to understand why I was given to such a destructive father. Instead, I realized that I was doing the same thing to God that my father did to me. Was I telling God that HE wasn’t enough? That He couldn’t fix the damage in me? That no matter what Jesus did on Calvary I would never be emotionally healed?

Dear reader, if you are still reading and there has been something going off inside of you that you feel that you will never be able to overcome; let me encourage you that you can.

It might not happen overnight. You might have days when it will take everything inside of you to fight that voice in your head or the pain in your heart. But when we have the Holy Spirit living within us that was sent to comfort, encourage, teach, and abide with us forever, hope can and will be restored.

The Word says that children are a gift from God. Not every person who becomes a parent sees it that way. I pray that you or someone you know isn’t doing everything they can to destroy a child’s hope.

The Word also says in Matthew 18:6 But if any of you causes one of these little ones who trusts in me to lose his faith, (hope) it would be better for you to have a rock tied to your neck and be thrown into the sea.

I’m an adult but I’m still one of God’s little ones.

I pray that if you don’t know the Lord you will ask for forgiveness, believe in the Name of Jesus, and ask Him into your life today. Your life will begin to change in ways that you could never imagine and if you have little ones depending on you to shape their lives you should thank God for entrusting them to you and lean on God to show you have to show them how to see the racehorse in themselves.

May God forgive anyone harming their own child today or anyone’s child.

I bless you.