Adopted into the family: Toward a theology of parenting

Parenting is neither a requirement nor an expectation for the Christian life. But parenting is a gift of that life: a gift made possible because of the gift of God’s own Son to us, a gift that makes us heirs to the covenant by adoption. All who parent care for adoptive children because children are given to parents. Parents offer hospitality to children for a time so that they, in turn, might provide hospitality to others. Children belong not first and foremost to parents, but to God. Children come to parents as surprises, even anticipated surprises, and teach parents part of what it means to be giving people. And, because children rarely stay the length of their lives under a parent’s roof, they, too, might even become adoptive parents themselves when the time comes.