Panic!
Questions flooded over me. Did I make a point to tell her about…? Or does she really understand…? "Does she know that you do not wash darks and whites together? Can she really organize her time without my 'motherly reminders?' Who will know if she made it to her destination and back safely? What happens if…."
I was indeed in a panic because time had seemingly run out all at once. Had I not been planning, working diligently for this moment in time since her birth? Wasn’t this the plan? They live and breathe 24 hours a day, seven days a week in our home so that we can teach them to be independent, self-sufficient, young adults…so they can leave? Where did the time go? My husband and I, along with our youngest daughter were driving back from a recent college visit. It had become very quiet in the car and I began reflecting on how our family was closing another chapter of our lives together. Wasn’t it just yesterday that our older daughter left home for college. How excited she was to leave home for her college experience. Memories of that day will ever be imbedded in my memory. What a contrast of emotions, Jennifer standing on the sidewalk waving happily, ready to get on with her new adventure - Mom and Dad crying, tissues pasted to our wet cheeks as we drove away. I thought to myself there should be a designated mourning area for parents.
Show & Tell
How precious is a child. Our Lord placed great value on the little ones in His day in a culture in which children counted for very little. He said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God (Luke 18:16)." And again, "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea (Mark 9:42)." As parents we are stewards of God for the little ones He places in our home. We are to "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4)." We also have the responsibility to show and tell how great God is in our home and before our children (Psalm 78:4; Deuteronomy 6:6,7). The weight of this responsibility bore heavily on the day our children were born. And now, once again, I felt that weight but in a much different way. At their birth we looked ahead. Now we were looking back with the awful thought that our time for molding and influence was just about over.
Trust
As we continued home that day I was reminded once again that my children are not my own. They never were. As infants we had dedicated them to the Lord, realizing that God had a plan and a purpose for their life. They have been and always will be in His care. Can we trust them with God? It is a comforting thought that God is their heavenly Father who loves them more than we ever could. And so we trust God to do all that we cannot do. And we trust our children to skillfully live by the rule that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," the same wisdom that I hope and pray they saw in me.
I recently came across the following challenge by Roy Lessin. It is a wonderful reminder that we should be training our children on purpose.
Lord, as my children grow
Help me to train them with…
VISION - So that they may discover all you made them to be.
DISCIPLINE - So that their hearts may be tender and yielded to you.
WISDOM - So that they will make good choices and hold right values.
FAITH - So that they will live free of fear and depend on you for all things.
TRUTH - So that they will grow strong in character and in favor of you.
LOVE - So that their hearts will come to know your heart and express it to others.
Confidence
It is only normal to question our work during these transitional times. There were so many days without a thought to the duties and responsibilities of parenthood. We just did it. But we did it with God’s strength and support. And we are confident in our great God and our wonderful, God-given heritage.
Diana L. Reynolds
Day Care Director
Bible Center Church
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