The New Eve - Lewis Robert [45]
Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go.” A more literal translation would be, “Train up a child according to his bent.” It is every parent's job to know and honor this bent. It is also your job to encourage that bent to grow and flourish. In that regard, basic personality and gift testing is crucial for you to have an objective appraisal of your child. The earlier, the better. This becomes very helpful in knowing how to influence your child's life as he or she moves through school, especially through junior high and high school.
Conclusion
This concludes our discussion on the first half of your seasons as a woman. The next chapter will address the other half as well as some exceptions. But as we finish here, don't lose sight of why I am giving you this big-picture perspective of life. It's to help you see “there is a time for every event under heaven” (Eccles. 3:1).
8
The Seasons of a Woman's Life
(Part 2)
Some of you may be quick to comment that you don't really fit these general seasons of life I'm describing. For you, life is different because of circumstances you could not control or difficulties you helped create. My good friend Sandy Bone is one who knows that the expected seasons of life can sometimes get off track. Early in her fifties Sandy had her life turned upside down. After twenty-six years of marriage and raising two children, Sandy's husband was tragically killed in an automobile accident. Suddenly, the flow of life Sandy had long experienced made a hard U-turn into an unexpected new life: single again. Thrown into this strange new season, Sandy needed a game plan. The path that once seemed straight and simple was now crowded with new forks and bends.
Tragedy can do that. It can rip you from your comfort zone and set you down hard in a place where you're not sure what to do next. Divorce can do this too. So can infertility, remaining unmarried, or marrying a man who already has kids. In these and other cases, the more typical and sequential seasons of a woman's life get scrambled, rearranged, or even repeated. So what do you do? How do you find your footing and make wise moves when the scenery of your life takes on an out-of-the-ordinary color?
You can start the process of discovering your new ground rules by blending two of the common seasons of life into a new, hybrid category that best describes your situation. Here's what I mean. First, select from the ten seasons I listed for you in chapter 7 the two that best describe your life now. For instance, if you have three grade-school children but are recently divorced, then the two seasons that best align themselves with where you are now would be “Single” and “Married with Grade-Schoolers.”
Next, select from these two seasons the wise moves in each that best apply to your particular situation. By combining these moves, you will find wisdom and direction for your new, hybrid season: “Single with Grade-Schoolers.” In such a case your wise moves for this blended season might look something like what is on the following page.
You can do this with any exception to the ten standard seasons. Did you marry a man with young-adult children? Then you are “Newly Married with Young-Adult Children.” Are you a young mom who just got engaged? Then you are “Single and Engaged with Preschoolers.” Are you married, childless, and middle-aged? Then you are “Married without Children,” but you have common ground with an “Empty Nester.” The point is, by blending any two of the more common seasons of life, you can create a wise course for your life.
This is what Sandy had to do. The tragic car accident converted her from a “Married Empty Nester” to a “Single Empty Nester.