It started with reading Edith Schaeffer's "The Tapestry". At first there was so much I wished to emulate. But as the pace picked up I began to feel a little uneasy... Does God really mean us to live at such a frantic pace?
And then I got curious about their son, Frank Schaeffer... I'd seen one of his books in my brother's church and that had been niggling me a long time. So I looked him up. He is NOT being kind to his parents. Rather venomous actually.
Edith and Francis Schaeffer
I've been thinking deeply ever since about parents and children and faith and passing it on. I won't share all my thoughts just now but I do agree with the person who commented on Frank Schaeffer's blog:
"Having read this and the previous post I find them sad. Sad in the sense that there seems to be such a difficulty in stepping back and seeing the wonder and mystery of people such as parents who, despite being deeply flawed, were still capable of making (I assume) positive contributions. Will our children remember us with the same degree of judgment and bitterness? "
3 comments:
Hmmm, I always did wonder about the seeming perfection of Edith's home life...I can be so malicious though, I thought it was more my imperfections/jealousy/etc that coloured my reading. I saw her as a role model in some ways. Now that the intensive work of parent is done, and I am just retrospective and introspective, I think that my husband's rule of thumb-"Is it worth the relationship?" feels right,not that everything and anything goes or went. But I cut myself some slack, given that we were a household of people with ADD, some of us finding this out later than others. Greg always says to the boys that we want then to come back as our friends and co-sojourners when they are adults.
I had to think a long time on this one... and now you will probably never read this, Anne. But I'm going to write anyway.
Edith Schaeffer really was my role model - and, unlike you, I didn't think she was "too perfect". I thought she was honest and I thought she worked hard on relationships.
But after I finished "The Tapestry" I wondered if they didn't get too wrapped up in doing ministry esp. once they knew his days were numbered.
Did Frank get left behind? Did they leave no time for closure?
....
I wish I knew.
May God keep me in touch with my children!
And may they view me with more mercy than Frank views his parents!
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