“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).
My children don’t really belong to me. Yours don’t belong to you. They belong to God first. He created them — they are His handiwork, His masterpiece — and [H]e placed them purposefully in our care. My daughters are designed for my arms, my voice, my special brand of encouragement and my style of scolding. Your kids are designed for yours — your approach, your personality, your hugs, and your tears. God created us, parents and children, for each other.
Why? Not so we can squash their heads and preserve them at age 5, 10, or 15. God entrusted our kids to us so that we can prepare them for the kingdom work that He planned for them long ago, before time began.
We see who they are today. He sees who they are meant to become.
Who are we to mourn that transformation, as though it’s unnatural, or worse, some cruel joke God plays on sappy mothers like me? Truly, the process of our children growing up is perhaps the most natural and beautiful of all God’s created things. And we get to watch it happen.
We get to help make it happen.
If you have school-age children like I do or little ones at your feet, then by all means, let’s seek the joy in their antics, their sweetness, their discovery of the world. Young children are a blessing in a thousand ways. Yet I rest in the hope that grown children are exponentially so. Because they are the sculpture beneath the marble, the beautifully painted canvas, the three-part sonata from beginning to end. They are God’s fully fashioned, always evolving work of art — ready for the world to see.
And He invites us, as moms, to help shape His work. How amazing is that?
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 1:4).
So whether you’re enjoying your summer with popsicles and playgrounds, or shopping for dorm room supplies, let’s remember that every moment of this crazy parenting journey is ordained by God. (Yes, even the hair-ripping ones. And there are a lot of those.) I want to be able to say I embraced every season and appreciated each new phase more than the last. I mean, I do hear the grandma stage is fantastic.
But it can wait.
For today, let’s try living in the moment — this moment, this summer, this beautiful, ordinary slice of time that God has granted us for His purposes and His glory. No matter how old your kiddos are, hug them today. They’ll be somebody different tomorrow, somebody older, wiser, and closer to God’s finished masterpiece. And guess what? We get to meet them, every day, all over again.
Wow. That makes this whole growing up thing worth celebrating.
Blessings,
Becky
**This post originally appeared on The Courage. Published with permission.
