by Whitney Jones
If you are anything like me you want to control
every minute of your child’s life. What they wear, the friends they hang out
with, the sports they play, the college they go to, the food they eat…the list
is endless. As parents we try so hard to have control over our children’s lives
so that we can rest assured that nothing “bad” will ever enter their lives.
Now yes, we do need to guide our children. The Bible
even tells us in Proverbs 22:6 “Direct
your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave
it.”
However, in Proverbs it says to guide our children.
It does not say to choose the path for them. Many parents want to make all the
choices for their child, but this can hurt your child in the long run. When
parents teach their child how to make decisions, rather than make the decision
for them, the child is able to learn from their mistakes. Train your children
to choose the right path rather than choosing that path for them.
Sending my daughter to middle school was one of the
hardest things I’ve had to do. All of these feelings of fear entered my mind.
She’s going to be exposed to other teenagers that won’t be making wise choices.
She might choose to start hanging out with friends that we don’t approve of.
She could be offered drugs. She will have raging hormones and so will other
teenagers. She won’t care about school anymore. She will make unwise decisions
that will mold her future. All of these fears overcame me and instead of
handing these fears of the unknown to God, I let them consume me. I neglected
to remember that fear is just a feeling,
it’s not reality.
This experience brought to mind a biblical mother
who literally had to give the fear of the unknown to God and trust that He
would take care of her child. She had to put her son in a basket and she entrusted
him into God's care. Moses' mother Jochebed had to face the fear of the unknown
just like we have to face the fear of the unknown with our children.
Jochebed hid her newborn son Moses for three months,
but then knew she could protect him no longer. So the Bible tells us, "she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and
waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it
among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River" (Exodus 2:3b, NLT).
How many of you would have a really hard time with
this? Putting your small baby in a basket to watch him float away in the Nile
River. I definitely would!
Sending my daughter to middle school was hard and it
still has its challenges, but imagine how Jochebed must have felt, watching her
precious baby floating down the river in a basket. A million things could have
gone wrong. She could have fretted over every worst-case scenario possible.
Instead, she entrusted her child to God.
Although we don't know exactly what Jochebed was
feeling, I like to think she believed God had a plan and purpose for her
child's life, giving her the courage to step away from the basket. In the same,
God has beautiful plans for our children. We must step away and let God take
control. We need to trust and believe that God loves our children even more
than we love our children.
As parents, we want to keep our kids safe, protect
them from pain, fix their problems, make their decisions and steer them in the
right direction. However, there comes a time when we realize we aren't in
control anymore and have to accept that our children's futures are in God's
hands, not ours.
Whether your child is starting kindergarten, middle
school, high school or college, this is the time when parents need to trust God
and believe He has good plans for their children's lives.
What comfort and peace it brings to remember God is
always in control and ever present in our children's lives, even when we can no
longer be.
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