When the girls were babies, toddlers and in elementary school, I would kiss their sleeping heads each night and pray for them. It was a very short prayer: "Lord, please help them to love you more than anything in this world." Now, my teenage/preteen daughters stay up much later than me, so this ritual has shifted to the morning hours while they are still sleeping and I'm leaving for work. Parenting struggles have changed in some ways, but my prayer hasn't changed a bit! So much remains the same, yet my confidence in parenting has diminished with the need for a new style of influence. Safety is a common thread throughout the years and sharing continues to be a front burner issue, but authoritarian and controlling leadership is no longer effective.
If I could sum up my role in the home, it would be "Chief Nag". When I walk in the door from school, the first comments often include, "Have you done piano, homework, folded laundry? Who left the bowls, cups, chip bags on the coffee table? That is too much make-up! That skirt is too short or tight, etc., etc., etc....." In just three years, our first daughter will be ready for college. I don't want to nag her to death during the fleeting time we have her in the home.
My desire as a parent would be for them to know that I'm am their biggest fan and cheerleader! With driving and dating on the horizon, I can only imagine the challenges ahead. I pray that the Lord will grow in me a winsome spirit of grace and mercy that helps navigate these years with loving and patient influence. Believe it or not, I can distinctly remember being their age and being
attracted to and influenced by people who believed in me and
encouraged me to live in a way that honors the Lord, those who inspired
me to love the Lord more than anything else in this world!
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