The Parenting Cup
I have to tell you about a conversation I had last night with my oldest daughter. She is getting ready to turn 11. I took her shopping for a bathing suit and how many moms out there know that an 11 year olds body is, well, changing. As a mom, I was thinking, oh man where did the time go. She is growing up way to fast and she won’t be little too much longer. On our way home I began to have “the talk” with her; giving little bite size information. Suddenly the conversation went from body changes to the way I was raised. I shared with her about my relationship with my mom (which I’ll have to share in another post sometime). She asked me, “Mom, how come you never told us you weren’t born in a Christian home? How come you never told us that you didn’t know Jesus until you were 9? How come you never told us that Grandpa smoked and cussed?” It dawned on me that I was protecting my kids all this time. I was protecting them from the truth.
As God is bringing me into a new journey of parenting with my kids, I’m praying that He guides my words through these Beyond Brave moments. Those moments that may just be ordinary but really do take extraordinary faith.
If this is you, if you find that your children are growing up before your eyes yet you thought you were prepared for this journey, I’m here to tell you…I understand. I understand that you might be afraid of them growing up or questioning yourself, “did I do everything right?” I’m here to tell you that fear makes us more controlling and tense. It shows no hope and no love (1 John 4:18).
This is our time parents to trust in the One we know is in complete control…God!
That He designed us, He created us to mother these kids. He knew exactly what you and I needed to mother our children. The amazing thing is that He put it in you. See you don’t have to ask for wisdom on how to mother, He already put it in you. You don’t have to ask for patience as a mother, He already put it in you. God doesn’t make mistakes. He didn’t create your child and say, “Ok, Michelle, now go ahead and mother this child and whatever you’re missing I’ll put it in you.” No, He said in Psalm 23:5:
“LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup…” (NIV)
He gave you your portion, everything you needed to be not just a mom, but the most amazing mom you could have ever imagined. He assigned your portion; the cool part is we get to go to Him to fill our cup. When we feel we don’t have enough patience or wisdom to give anymore, God has given us this amazing connection to go to Him, open our arms and say, “God fill our cup”.
