They place that newborn in your arms, and an unconditional love for your child overwhelms your entire being. How could you love someone to the depths and intensity that you would lay down your entire life for this little one even though you just met? Maybe you felt this gush of uncontrollable, messy love when the judge signed the documents that declared the baby you had forever held in your dreams and now held in your arms was your legal child. Paperwork and shared DNA have nothing to do with the immeasurable amount of love you have for your beloved child.
From day one we want to hold on tight, and as responsible parents of young ones we should. There are diapers to be changed and baths to be given as we mold and shape and love these precious gifts. It’s an all-hands-on-deck adventure. And yet as we keep them close from the very beginning, they are daily taking breaths that are slowly bringing them to independence. Soon they go from bottles to cups, crawling to walking, Legos to lockers. The days turn into weeks and the weeks into years. Often our parental hearts want to grasp and reach and sometimes emotionally dominate them. After all, they are OUR children. Or are they?
As mature, healthy parents, we must daily learn the selfless ways to lay down our lives for these miraculous creatures that have been put in our care. Selfless nighttime feedings to selfless journeys up and down the highway to soccer practice. The selflessness doesn’t stop as we decide to keep our opinions to ourselves as our grown children become fabulous, unique adults. I think one of the most selfless things we can do for our kids is to get ourselves out of the way as we offer our children to God in prayer.
No matter where you are in your parenting journey, I want to give a shout out to all you praying parents out there. If you are bringing your children’s names to God’s throne today, we can be assured that He hears us and knows what is best for us and our kids. We truly can let go and let God. We let go in our own strength but hold on tight in our prayer strength. Let’s continue to be vigilant in our prayers and faith for our kids, knowing that His plans and ways are higher than ours.
Isaiah 54:13 — All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.
Psalms 102:28 — The children of your (God’s) servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you.
Proverbs 22:6 — Train up a child in the way he should go. And when he is old he will not depart from it.