The longer I am a mom, the deeper my realization that I don't know very much when it comes to parenting. Especially now that I am expecting my fourth child.
Now don't get me wrong. I don't mean to imply that if you have less than three or four children you have not yet "arrived" and, therefore, couldn't possibly understand what I am feeling or talking about as a mom. Hardly.
Because honestly, I don't think it matters if you have one child or twelve (though I can imagine it takes much more brain power with a dozen), the concept is still the same:
Children are not carbon copies of one another. Regardless of how similar they look on the outside, they are each vastly different on the inside. And above all, they are not a Mini Me.
"Train up a child in the way he should go..." Proverbs 22:6
It suddenly occurs to me that it's my job, as a Christian parent, to train them up in the way that THEY should go. Not where I went as a child. Or the direction that their sibling is headed. Or their cousins. Or some model kid that I think that they should be.
But rather, in the direction that the Lord has designed specifically for them.
And that is the place where I find myself floundering. Because my girls, though their personalities fit together so well, are still very, very different from one another.
Therefore, it's no cookie cutter calling that the Lord is asking of me... or any parent for that matter. This whole training up a child thing.
A few months ago...before a light bulb went off in my head concerning that scripture...I always read that Proverbs verse as a "duh" kind of statement. Meaning, that obviously I want them to follow the Lord. Therefore, I just need to point them Heavenward and that will be that. Mission accomplished.
But I'm finding it's needs to be so much more than that, you know?
It's really sitting down and taking into consideration who they are as individual people. Their likes. Their fears. Their strengths. Their weaknesses. Their giftings. And then, helping them search out God for His heart for THEM, individually. not for the masses.
The thought both excites and overwhelms me. I get excited thinking about how deep of an impact such intentional seeking and personalized training would have on their young lives. And I also get somewhat overwhelmed thinking that the majority of that falls on me in this season.
But then again, I suppose that is the realm of parenthood: Joy mixed with fear and trembling. Knowing that, for a short season, you hold a very precious life in your feeble hands. Yet rejoicing that you forever get to hold them in your heart.
