{"id":39817,"date":"2013-05-23T11:45:59","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T16:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=39817"},"modified":"2013-05-23T11:46:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-23T16:46:00","slug":"the-mystery-of-parenthood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/the-mystery-of-parenthood\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mystery of Parenthood"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"http:\/\/www.dreamstime.com\/royalty-free-stock-photos-parenthood-concept-image24681298\"<\/a>Fifteen years ago at St. Mary’s in College Station, I walked down the stairs with my then 3 year old son.\u00a0 What happened on those stairs opened my eyes and subsequently my wife’s eyes to the fact that parenthood does more for the parents than it ever does for the children.\u00a0\u00a0 On that stairway, our little boy asked if he could try and walk down the stairs himself.\u00a0 So, I put him down and extended my hand to help.\u00a0 He turned away, immediately starting down the stairs himself.\u00a0 I continually offered my hand step by step.\u00a0 My offer refused every time.\u00a0 10 stairs down, with me hovering over him but not touching him, he lost his balance and began to fall face forward down the stairs.\u00a0 Catching him by the back of the shirt and preventing the fall, I placed him back on the stairs and then offered my hand again, thinking that he certainly would take it now.\u00a0 Now, he knew the danger.\u00a0 Now, he knew that I could help him.\u00a0 We could walk down together.<\/p>\n

Much to my surprise, he refused the hand again.\u00a0 I remember thinking to myself, “Don’t you know what I just did?”; “Don’t you realize that without me you would have a bloody nose and perhaps a broken arm?”;”Don’t you know that I just want to help you?”;”Why would you turn away from that?”.\u00a0 At that moment, as those questions ran through my head, a small voice, not my own, said “Do you know what I’ve done for you?”<\/p>\n

Then, Stephanie and I began the adventure of living the mystery of parenthood.\u00a0 In parenting our children, He parents us.\u00a0 When we teach, He teaches us.\u00a0 When our daughter suffers and we experience the suffering only a parent can experience as we suffer with her, He shares a taste of His suffering with us.\u00a0 When our children do something wonderful, and we experience great joy as a result, He gives us a glimpse into the joy we bring Him when we cooperate with Him – when we take His hand and walk down the stairway of our lives.<\/p>\n

Have you ever experienced this mystery of parenthood?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fifteen years ago at St. Mary’s in College Station, I walked down the stairs with my then 3 year old son.\u00a0 What happened on those stairs opened my eyes and subsequently my wife’s eyes to the fact that parenthood does more for the parents than it ever does for the children.\u00a0\u00a0 On that stairway, our… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":157,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[671],"tags":[55,51,127,50,2890,720,165],"class_list":["post-39817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-column","tag-catholic-2","tag-catholicism","tag-children","tag-faith","tag-family","tag-parenthood","tag-parenting","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":344951,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2017\/01\/holy-name-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":39817,"position":0},"title":"Most Holy Name of Jesus","author":"Shawn Rain Chapman","date":"January 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It is said that one night, St. Teresa of Avila met the Child Jesus on the stairs of her convent. The little One asked her name. She said, \"I am Teresa of Jesus.\" He said, \"Then I am Jesus of Teresa.\" What would Jesus say to you? Is your name\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/painting1-117x190.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":181178,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/in-the-spirit-of-advent\/","url_meta":{"origin":39817,"position":1},"title":"In the Spirit of Advent","author":"Ablaze Ministries","date":"December 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Every year during Advent, the Johnson clan leads a church-wide food drive.\u00a0 We ask our church community to draw a family from our sister parish in downtown Houston and pray for them, give them boxes of food, and maybe get them a present or two.\u00a0 Then two Uhauls get filled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Advent-CCFM","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Advent-CCFM-550x366.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Advent-CCFM-550x366.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Advent-CCFM-550x366.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":186756,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/sunrise-dark-faith-advent-brightness-christmas\/","url_meta":{"origin":39817,"position":2},"title":"Sunrise: through the dark faith of Advent to the brightness of Christmas","author":"Shawn Rain Chapman","date":"December 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Traveling through Advent with grief this year has led to me to soul search about what Christmas is, and, in the process, to notice similarities between the journey of Advent into Christmas and the stages of the soul's progression into the heart of God. \u00a0According to Carmelite spirituality, \u00a0the soul\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo by Renee Bork","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12016594_10205918857824426_849206572_n-550x413.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12016594_10205918857824426_849206572_n-550x413.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12016594_10205918857824426_849206572_n-550x413.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":192082,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/home-holidays-reflection-octave-christmas\/","url_meta":{"origin":39817,"position":3},"title":"Home for the Holidays: a reflection on the Octave of Christmas","author":"Shawn Rain Chapman","date":"December 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I know you might feel a little wilted, Reader, after all the Christmas presents and family and food (and sugar, etc.) I do too. I kind of like it though. The Octave of Christmas is a peaceful time. I deeply enjoyed Christmas Eve with my daughters and our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_1341","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/IMG_1341-e1451253686837-127x190.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":116031,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/05\/a-response-to-should-children-make-up-their-own-minds-about-religion\/","url_meta":{"origin":39817,"position":4},"title":"A Response to “Should Children Make Up Their Own Minds About Religion?”","author":"Lindsay Wilcox","date":"May 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I did not grow up in church. That surprises people who have only known me as an involved Catholic, but it's true. My mom's side is the Catholic side of the family, and they're only occasional churchgoers. My dad's side is mostly non-churchgoing, and they're not Catholic. When I go\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Should Children Make Up Their Own Minds About Religion? A Reponse at AustinCNM.com","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/acnm_childrenreligion.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":140580,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/08\/why-kids-are-pro-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":39817,"position":5},"title":"Why Kids Are Pro-Life","author":"Britt Echtenkamp","date":"August 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday afternoon, while walking through HEB with my family, a hurried mom with her two little girls rushed by us in the coffee aisle. The mom didn't look at us or say anything as she moved past us, but one of her little girls (probably 4 or 5), stopped and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Boy in grass.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/1935908_10100122122716974_1428801_n1-143x190.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}