Imprint Parenting

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ~Matthew 28:19

Whooping Cranes, magnificent birds standing five feet tall, but unfortunately on the endangered list, so what were conservationists to do?

There were less than 200 whooping cranes left. They nested in Wisconsin, where a scientist decided to collect some eggs to hatch, hoping to increase their numbers. Other species of birds are hatched in captivity, then released as mature birds into the wild. Seemed like a great idea until it wasn't. Whooping cranes imprint on the first thing they come in contact with when they hatch. They depend on that thing, animal, person, whatever it is to teach them everything a whooping crane needs to know. In other words, they need parents to teach them to be cranes. The whooping crane chicks followed the scientist around everywhere. The more mature they became, the more they interacted with the scientists as whooping cranes. Not a good match when a person is attacked by a five-foot-tall bird. The birds would not naturally integrate themselves into the flock as the scientists intended. 

The next idea - dress like a whooping crane so the next hatchlings would imprint with supposed cranes. Worked like a charm until it didn't. The captive whooping cranes didn't know how to migrate. They didn't know how to follow the crane flock. If the cranes didn't migrate to their natural winter home in Florida, they would likely die in the cold Wisconsin winter. The scientist couldn't fly. 

The scientist heard of a man who flew hang gliders. Geese would follow his glider. Light bulbs began to go off scientists' heads. Dress the hang glider pilot to look like a crane just as the scientist had dressed like a crane to imprint the hatchlings. Sure enough, when the glider crane took off, the whooping cranes took to the air, following the glider all the way to Florida. Now they knew the way. After wintering in Florida, they returned to Wisconsin to raise a new brood of cranes. The whooping crane population began to increase. 

Did you feel like baby whooping cranes were a lot like human children? Don't our children need to be taught what to eat, how to walk, how to speak, how to read, how to function in the world? Most importantly, don't our children need examples of how to love the Lord? 

Our children need to see parents who put God first. They need to have the word of God imprinted on their hearts, not just at church but in their homes. When our children and others make their decision to follow Christ, they need to be discipled; trained to be witnesses. It's not enough to say okay, now you're saved and you will go to heaven. Don't we need to help them understand God has a plan for their lives? Don't we need to show them how to find that plan, how to create stable Christian homes, and how to grow into mature Christians that will show the next generation that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven? 

Jesus gave us the Great Commission so we would be missionaries to all those with whom we come in contact. What was the order of imprinting? Teach and baptize. Make disciples. Babies can't be left on their own, and neither can young Christians. Like whooping cranes, we need mature birds to imprint our lives so we too can fly for Jesus. 

Heavenly Father, help us be mentors to those around us, our children, our family, and our friends that we are a thriving people, not a diminishing flock. In Jesus's name. Amen.