Curling Through Life

 February 19, 2022

Years ago, someone commented to me that Linda and I were lucky to have the family we have. I think they were talking about our children, not our parents. My response was, “Luck has nothing to do with it. It took a lot of hard work and a lot of prayers.” Looking back on it, that response may sound a bit arrogant, so I’ve been thinking about it, and have come up with an analogy that makes sense to me. 

There are a lot of good parents whose children have not walked the path they would have liked them to walk. For any number of reasons, those children have left behind the values and faith that meant so much to their parents, who look back and wonder what they did wrong. And it is always possible to find things we did wrong. I don’t think there’s a parent who ever lived who didn’t wish they had done some things differently, that they hadn’t made some of the mistakes they made, said some of the things they said, given the example they gave. Perfection is not within our ability, and we often blame ourselves for poor decisions our children make. Our parents no doubt did the same.

So here’s my analogy: Even if you have chosen not to watch the Olympics this year, most of us have watched even if only momentarily the Curling event. One of the team members carefully aims a 40 pound, smooth granite stone, sliding it down a lane of ice towards a target almost 150 feet away. Opposing teams try to knock previously launched stones out of the target area, much as in shuffleboard. Two team members shuffle along the stone’s path, frantically sweeping the ice with brooms. The friction of the brooms slightly melts the ice, altering the speed and trajectory of the stone.

Raising kids is a lot like curling. God entrusts children to us, launching them into life, aiming them at the target of becoming like Christ. As parents, we’re like the sweepers, doing our best to guide the direction of these children who have minds and wills of their own. We can’t directly reach into their hearts to change them; all we do is (often frantically) sweep the path ahead of them, hoping and praying that it is enough to get them to the target. 

We know there are obstacles in the way—the stones of the opposing team. If all goes well, the aim is true and our sweeping guides the child to just the right place to knock the opposition out of the way. Much of it is beyond our control; we are merely the sweepers, with the brooms of prayer, instruction, and example. There is no formula; only the wisdom of Scripture, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the sweeping of the parent. God aimed well, we swept frantically, and the stones have hit their target.