guilt and a song

As a father I can easily get caught in the guilt over what my daughter did.  I feel guilt over what I did and should not have done.  I feel guilt over what I should have done but did not do.  I feel guilt over the quantity of what good I did, "was it enough?"  IF ONLY I had...

Then I found a song!  It's called the Song of the Vineyard in Isaiah 5 verses 1-5.  The song is about God and Israel.  God did everything perfect in planting his vineyard; fertile hillside, cleared it of stones, planted choicest vines, watchtower and wine press. "Then he looked for a crop of good grapes but it yielded only bad fruit."

God even raises the question I often struggle with and invites human judgement on his gardening skills, "What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it?  When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?" 

This parallels parenting.  It is  possible to do all the right things with our children and they still may turn to destructive and unfruitful ways. Or do we think we can do better than God?

Notice that the "why" question was never answered.  God moves past the "why" to "what he will do now!"

I'm NOT saying my parenting was perfect, it was flawed at best but perhaps it's time to move past "guilt,"  find comfort in a song and take steps to move forward!