Locusts

This is a hard stage for me, even though I knew it would be. Previously, my sister and I joked that I would raise all the babies and she would take over when they were teens. I now have four teenagers. 

Some days, life feels like an ordinary walk on the beach until a wave suddenly crashes over my head. I'm pulled under before I can orient myself and am unable to get back on my feet soon enough. Finally, my feet find stable ground and I burst above the surface of the water gasping for air. Where did the wave come from? This is life with teenagers.

I wonder what causes the sand to shift so quickly, the storm to arise out of nowhere? Is our foundation not sturdy enough to withstand the onslaught of teenage emotions and tribulations? Was there simply not enough time to build one? My oldest came home at six-and-a-half, and two and a half years later her childhood ended. We had two and a half years of princess parties and homemade Elsa cloaks. Two and a half years of dressing up in dress-up clothes, saving money for an American Girl doll, drawing in her free time, or playing at the pool for hours in the summer. Most parents get a decade or more to lay the life-long foundation needed to parent their child through adolescence. We had less than 3 years.

Are any adoptive parents ever given enough time?

Joel 2 comes to mind, when the Kingdom of Judah is reeling from a recent locust plague. So much was lost, and often, we feel the same way for our children. Their traumatic beginnings often make us all feel like we lived through a disaster of monstrous proportions. Because they have.

Despite the disaster and the size of their despair, God assures them it is never too late. Through Joel, God tells us in verses 25-27:

I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten - 

the great locust and the young locust,

the other locusts and the locust swarm -

my great army that I sent among you.

You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,

and you will praise the name of the Lord your God.

who has worked wonders for you;

What has been taken away, God plans to restore in some form. He doesn't tell us the length of time involved, or what form restoration will take. Some dreams for our children we will never see come to fruition, but God doesn't promise us that our dreams for them will all come true. What He does say, is that we will praise Him. Where bellies were once empty, He will fill. Where we have seen pain and brokenness, He will work wonders. We will praise the name of the Lord our God, not because we haven't lived through pain, but because He promises to ultimately take it away.

We have not had enough time with our kids, and the teenage years are hard in their own beautiful and messy way. But the pain we feel now won't last forever. What the locusts have taken, they don't ultimately get to keep.