One of the fundamental challenges of being a parent is the responsibility of recognizing and cultivating a child’s uniqueness. Some parents assume that since a child looks a lot like a certain member of the family or has been named after someone(s) in the family that it is the child’s obligation to become a carbon copy of that family member. The Bible does not teach this.
In fact, it teaches that each child born into a family is its own unique creation of God. It will have similarities with all members of the human race, but—like its fingerprints—it will have its own individual personality, interests, and preferences. Notice how beautifully this is pictured in Psalm 128:3—”Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table.”
In a garden, a healthy, fruitful vine has a sphere of influence and growth that may touch nearby plants, but it is not identical to the plant.
Vines and plants are not the same.
