Wow, it is amazing to watch your children grow up. They go from diapers, to backpacks, to spreading their own wings in no time. I have a few friends whose daughters have gone off to college and it is so hard. You may ask, whats so hard about that. Well, when you have had your children in your home for all the years they have been born, you tend to want to hang on a little longer. You feel as though they need protected and you wanna watch over them like a mother bird. While your children, although might be a little scared to take that first leap out of the tree, they are feeling excited about their new adventure. This year is my son's senior year. My last baby to teach at home. He is thinking this is great, while I am wanting to slow down a bit. He is trying to figure out what he wants to do. He goes from being a fireman, to being an electrician, to joining the military. He has many options going through his mind, the world is his to soar. While my children have grown, I too have grown with them. I am not the same person I was twenty-one years ago when my first daughter was born, yikes, that makes me look pretty old. This year, our daughter is beginning a nursing program, and though I am so proud of her, I miss her playing doctor at home. While she is out seeking her path, I am hoping it leads her home. Being a parent is hard, its hard to let go, its hard to watch those babies fly for the first time, to spread their wings and take flight. What if they fall, what if they lose their way, what if they forget all they were taught, what if danger comes their way? All those what if's can drive us crazy if we allow them to. If we are worrying, then we are not living in faith. There is no worry in faith. It was hard for me to come to the conclusion that my children were not really mine, they are Christ's children. It is for me to open my hands, and allow Him to have them. As parents we pray for our children. We pray they will follow Christ, we pray they will not lose their way, and we pray they will not fall. But in order for them to grow, we have to let go, and let them live, trusting them and Christ. As they grow we don't see them as often, we don't hear their voices daily, and we as parents miss them, while they are finding their way. We go from watching them leave in the school bus for the first time, to watching them pull out of the driveway with their car packed full of all their things. With each step they take, it takes them a little farther on their own. If we have done our job, and taught our children all we know, and lead them in the Lord, they will grow into Godly young men and women. They may walk away from what we have taught them, and walk away from church, but they haven't forgotten, and the Lord has not forgotten them either. He is there, and as they grow, they will learn that He has been there the whole time. Being a parent is tough, but it has so many blessings along the way. We must reach in deep and remember our youth, remember just how we felt the first time being out on our own, making those first decisions alone, and those first falls. When we fall we learn. As the momma bird watches her babies fly away, she knows its not forever, she will see them again, and one day they will have families of their own, then it will be their turn to let go of the precious ones they have. A friend of mine often says,"Suck it up buttercup!" So I too have to suck it up, dry those tears, and have faith in the one who blessed me with them along the way... "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 For me, a mom who had five kids in our home, I hang on to these verses by my heart. They are verses that God gives us, I believe to show us, He's got it all under control. We must place our faith in Him and in His word. When we are walking in faith there is no fear. So girls strap on that faith, cause your children are going to take you on a ride of your life..Monday, August 24, 2009
Growing up
Wow, it is amazing to watch your children grow up. They go from diapers, to backpacks, to spreading their own wings in no time. I have a few friends whose daughters have gone off to college and it is so hard. You may ask, whats so hard about that. Well, when you have had your children in your home for all the years they have been born, you tend to want to hang on a little longer. You feel as though they need protected and you wanna watch over them like a mother bird. While your children, although might be a little scared to take that first leap out of the tree, they are feeling excited about their new adventure. This year is my son's senior year. My last baby to teach at home. He is thinking this is great, while I am wanting to slow down a bit. He is trying to figure out what he wants to do. He goes from being a fireman, to being an electrician, to joining the military. He has many options going through his mind, the world is his to soar. While my children have grown, I too have grown with them. I am not the same person I was twenty-one years ago when my first daughter was born, yikes, that makes me look pretty old. This year, our daughter is beginning a nursing program, and though I am so proud of her, I miss her playing doctor at home. While she is out seeking her path, I am hoping it leads her home. Being a parent is hard, its hard to let go, its hard to watch those babies fly for the first time, to spread their wings and take flight. What if they fall, what if they lose their way, what if they forget all they were taught, what if danger comes their way? All those what if's can drive us crazy if we allow them to. If we are worrying, then we are not living in faith. There is no worry in faith. It was hard for me to come to the conclusion that my children were not really mine, they are Christ's children. It is for me to open my hands, and allow Him to have them. As parents we pray for our children. We pray they will follow Christ, we pray they will not lose their way, and we pray they will not fall. But in order for them to grow, we have to let go, and let them live, trusting them and Christ. As they grow we don't see them as often, we don't hear their voices daily, and we as parents miss them, while they are finding their way. We go from watching them leave in the school bus for the first time, to watching them pull out of the driveway with their car packed full of all their things. With each step they take, it takes them a little farther on their own. If we have done our job, and taught our children all we know, and lead them in the Lord, they will grow into Godly young men and women. They may walk away from what we have taught them, and walk away from church, but they haven't forgotten, and the Lord has not forgotten them either. He is there, and as they grow, they will learn that He has been there the whole time. Being a parent is tough, but it has so many blessings along the way. We must reach in deep and remember our youth, remember just how we felt the first time being out on our own, making those first decisions alone, and those first falls. When we fall we learn. As the momma bird watches her babies fly away, she knows its not forever, she will see them again, and one day they will have families of their own, then it will be their turn to let go of the precious ones they have. A friend of mine often says,"Suck it up buttercup!" So I too have to suck it up, dry those tears, and have faith in the one who blessed me with them along the way... "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 For me, a mom who had five kids in our home, I hang on to these verses by my heart. They are verses that God gives us, I believe to show us, He's got it all under control. We must place our faith in Him and in His word. When we are walking in faith there is no fear. So girls strap on that faith, cause your children are going to take you on a ride of your life..
