Before your children fall in love,
show them the value of a nest full of baby wrens,
take time to watch a zillion ants scurry about,
doing whatever it is they do to always look busy.
Teach your child to plant a seed and learn how to wait…so they can experience the joy of the miracle as the seed breaks its head through the soil as if to say, “I am here!”
Teach your child about nature, and science, and the sun, moon, and stars…
But most importantly, teach them about the Maker of ALL things both seen and unseen.
Show them that the air they breathe—each breath—is a gift from the One who knew them when they were in your womb…this is important.
Lead them to Jesus, to His unconditional love, and to His voice that breaks through darkness and fear.
This is a mom’s purpose above all else, because one day your child will fall in love.
You will no longer be the only voice that holds your child’s attention.
All the years spent exploring fall leaves, picking ripe tomatoes, and having conversations around the dinner table had a purpose that didn’t feel significant in the daily routine of life.
But one day the dinner table will be set for two once again, as it was before you held the title “Mom.”
And on that day, you will look back and understand that each moment held significance.
Your heart will finally know that each bath, each struggle to brush through tangled hair, and each book read at the end of the day when you were spent from the duties of parenthood…it all mattered.
At that time, you will recognize that the time you spent reading the Word of God and praying (even the prayers spoken through angry, clenched jaws) was showing your child that there was someone much greater than yourself who you needed. Someone who loved you when the world was unkind. Someone who would also love them in a world that does not celebrate the beauty of a heart devoted to God.
Before they fall in love, they need to know the source of True Love. There must be something for them to measure the feelings of young love against to see if they can trust their hearts with someone who may become their world. And they will become your child’s world in ways you were never meant to be to them.
Before they fall in love, every conversation matters, even when they are difficult…especially when they are difficult. A part of your heart belongs to your child, but all of their heart is trusting that you have their best interests, their dreams and hopes, and their back when it feels that no one else cares.
One day, your child will leave, and you will wonder if you did enough to prepare them for the real world.
So, lead them to the One who will never leave them, to the One who will hold them when you can’t, and to the One who loves them more than you do. Lead them to the One who will, in turn, lead them on every journey and eventually to “the one.”
Before they fall in love, loosen your grip enough to allow another to have space in your child’s world. Take a step back to leave room for the one who was created to complete your child and to love them in a way that you had prayed to God for… before they fell in love.
Stay the course...
Sheila
