Environment Makes the Man

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1 (NKJV)

I believe we owe who we are largely to how and where we grew up. Our parents play a major role in how we fare and function in this world, because they are responsible for creating the most conducive and enabling environment for us, to ensure that we are adequately prepared for life in the world.

The world is a very harsh environment; it does not forgive weakness. To live effectively in it, one must be nurtured in an environment that will help the individual become who he was meant to be. Unhealthy environments can corrupt an individual's potential in unimaginable ways. You know the saying that an elephant is afraid of an ant: it is the small things that can make the biggest difference. A farmer would not leave the ground uncultivated, for the results would obviously be undesirable. Sadly, this has been the case for the majority of us, because our parents did not understand the law of cultivation. For crops to grow properly, the ground needs to be cultivated.

At birth we are like seed, neither good nor bad, wise nor foolish; our nature is still neutral. Who and what we become will depend on the kind of parents we have, where we live, and what we are exposed to and educated in. Factors such as whether our parents are financially capable, whether they grew up in a good home and what their values are also play a major role in how we turn out. All these factors, though often overlooked, are the very environment created for us at birth. They give us the opportunity of becoming great, or merely ordinary, or even set in motion a series of destructive patterns that will be passed down to us.

The truth is that where you come from matters. Where you grew up matters, as do the school you went to, who your friends were, and who their parents were. These are the shapers of the mind, the blueprints of the trajectory of your life, and they mould us in ways you cannot imagine, because to a large extent they influence the choices and decisions that will ultimately determine who, what and how we turn out.

Having said that, there is a way out. Thank God for the Word and the Spirit of God. They are the best material for recreating your life and your future; however you grew up, whatever your experiences in life, there is hope to rewrite the story of your life. Just look at what God achieved with a formless, empty and chaotic earth. The same can and will be true of your life, if you surrender yourself to His Word and His Spirit.