A Wise Woman Nurtures And Then Lets Go

I love the poem below that depicts how we are to nurture our children, and to carefully live out before them the example of what a Christian mother should be:

A careful woman I ought to be;

a little girl follows me.

I do not dare to go astray,

for fear she'll go the selfsame way.

Not once can I escape her eyes;

whate'er she sees me do, she tries.

Like me, she says she's going to be

that little girl who follows me.

I must remember as I go

Through summer sun and winter snow,

I'm molding for the years to be 

that little girl who follows me.

~Author Unknown 

I have several friends and acquaintances who have become "empty nesters" this fall. I think this quote from Elisabeth Elliot's book, "A Path Through Suffering," is a good reminder to help us all when we move from nurturing to letting go:

"Relinquishment is always a part of the process of maturing. When Christian parents have done all that can be done to shape their children for God, the time comes when the hands must let go. The child, now a responsible adult, must be released. For any parent this is painful, even when the child is moving in the direction the parents prayed for. The child's continued development, and the spiritual health of the parents as well, depend on the willingness to accept this next stage of the cycle—hands off, ready to part without a struggle, giving up authority and control, entrusting that child to God."

May God help us as parents to let go and release our children to God when they become responsible adults!

"There is a time for everything,

    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

    a time to be born and a time to die,

    a time to plant and a time to uproot,

   a time to kill and a time to heal,

    a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

    a time to mourn and a time to dance,

 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

 a time to search and a time to give up,

    a time to keep and a time to throw away..."

-Ecclesiastes 3:1-6

Walk by Faith,