Escaping the Greenhouse!

This has become a blog chain of sorts! :) I read it on a friend's blog who read it on another blog...and now I share it with you.

"In a greenhouse, a seed is planted.It is nurtured under the right temperature.It's given the correct amount of light, until a seed cover pops off and a tiny plant emerges....Healthy, strong and growing under the influence of the house it is in.The only problem is the greenhouse has not prepared the plant for adversity.In our community I see so many kids, my own included, that are raised in the greenhouse conditions.Perfect amount of schooling. Perfect amount of socializing. Perfect amount of church. Perfect amount of friends and only "like minded friends".We pay for our kids to go to the best violin teachers, voice teachers, piano teachers.Then they will, Lord willing, get married to someone who has been raised in a greenhouse right down the road under the same perfect conditions.They start their own greenhouse and are happy.Of course, they're happy. Their whole life has been about being comfortable in their greenhouse.My heart breaks when I think about all the trouble we go through raising our kids in the right conditions, teaching them Bible verses, making sure they know all the right truths. BUT...They never feel inclined to make a difference in the world.Sometimes it is lack of passion.Sometimes it is lack of knowledge that there is a lost and dying world right outside their greenhouse. But more often, it is our fault as parents. We are passing down our laziness. We struggle to LIVE out our faith so our kids will struggle. Yes, they will thrive in our greenhouse and most of them will pass on a great greenhouse life to their children, but we have to pass on a love for ALL of God's people. We have to be willing to stand with our children and help a lost world. We have to pass down a passion for the orphans of this world, the homeless and the widows.Yes, we have to grow strong plants for the next generation but we cannot forget the passion of Christ. Teaching our children to love and be keepers of the home is what I am about, but I also want them to be about the orphans and the needy that are NOT growing in a greenhouse. I can only teach that when I come out of the greenhouse and go with my children into the battlefield. It is all in vain if we raise up an army and our army is never sent to the battlefield but only to the greenhouse next door."

Isn't it true? For so many, we think we are doing what's best and what is good, and perhaps in the eyes of our peers or society, we are....but are those the eyes that really matter? It's reminders like this that challenge me more to move beyond my comfort zone, my safe place. To consider more carefully and more deeply the world that extends FAR beyond my front yard. To escape the greenhouse! (and developing the next generation of "greenhouse dwellers"!) Oh to maintain the passion and stamina that will be welcomed with the words of "Well done My good and faithful servant!"! Help me Lord as I try to keep my eyes and my heart fixed on you and your will for my life....that you may be glorified through it all!