As I read Proverbs 29 this morning, three of my favorite parenting verses stuck out to me. (vss. 11, 15, & 25) Yet, I realized much of our work is done with Sammy. She is still under our authority and we guide her, but we are turning many decisions over for her to make.
In a few weeks we will be having a graduation party for her. She has conquered High School and is moving on to college. Actually, she is over half way through with her college credits and should be graduating in a year and a half. This is all very hard for my mind to get around.
This is where we have been headed all these years in our parenting. Our goal has always been to prepare our children to follow God on their own. Sometimes I have to remind myself, because my emotions want to cling to the past and keep Sammy for myself.
As I move into this stage, I am thankful for the habit of prayer. Already I am begging God to reveal Himself to Sammy and to give her ears to hear Him speak to her. It looks like I will always be a mother; the application is what will be changing. What my friends with adult children tell me is, it is in many ways harder to be a parent when we must keep our mouths shut and our hands off, than in those busy years of doing everything for our child.
So, we’ve all heard it a hundred times…enjoy these years when you have small children because they will be gone before you know it…..it’s true!!
What is making it easier for us to transition into this next stage is that we have lived the previous years on purpose. Todd and I are not plagued with regrets. In no way are we claiming to have parented perfectly, don’t get me wrong. We have, though, picked ourselves up when we’ve fallen. Counsel was sought when unsure of how to proceed. And “recomputing“ was done when we got of course.
Now, it is birthday time and I am excited to celebrate another year of growth in Sammy. Tonight when we share what we are thankful for about Sammy, I will say her choices. Daily I see her make the choice to love and serve her family when it is not necessarily convenient for her. She chooses joy where I know it would be easy to given into the grumpies. And Samantha chooses to honor us even when we don’t make sense to her, which is going to be wonderful life skill in honoring authorities, especially God.
Happy Birthday Samantha!!