As our children grow they long to spread their wings more and more. They are no longer content to just sit in our laps reading books or hold our hands walking down the road. They long to run along, carefree and fly into new things without mom always at their side. This part of the raising children process can be very difficult on a mother’s heart. After giving all of ourselves for many years, the letting go process is hard. The hardest part of the process is the trusting…trusting that they’re ready, that they’re safe, that they can and most often will make the right decisions and trusting others that they’ll encounter are just a few things that we’ll face as our children begin to grow up that require us to be trusting.
It is said that once trust has been broken it is not easily regained. As a mother of growing children trusting becomes a part of every day. We must go into each day with a fresh outlook, knowing that just as at times we failed our mother’s trust as children and at times God’s as adults, our children will make mistakes, they will break our trust from time to time. It is in these moments that we must train (or retrain) our children and offer grace, just as we have received throughout our lives. There will be times that the issue requires tough love, but it is essential that forgiveness AND grace go hand in hand with it!
Our children need to know that our trust is important, but that it isn’t given without consequences if it is broken. The important part we must remember is that we can’t withhold trust forever…even if it’s been broken before. We must learn that though trusting our children isn’t always easy, it is essential to them growing into strong and confident adults.
If we fail to give our children an appropriate amount of trust (based on their age and maturity level) then they will likely become weak and timid adults, afraid to make their own decisions because they were never given the opportunities to do so as children.
Our children’s ability to make the right decisions is greatly based on what we teach them, the opportunities we given them to use what we’ve taught them, retraining them when necessary, enforcing consequences when applicable and repeating when a new trust situation/circumstance comes along.
Trusting is truly one of the hardest things a mother must do, but as we teach, train and trust the Lord, we must then rest in His peace for all things that come our way. Prayer throughout this trusting process is key to peace in a mother’s life. We must learn to rest in the knowledge that God chose us to be the mother to the children we have and know that His design is perfect. Trusting that God will strengthen, equip and train us along the way. Knowing that each day is another opportunity to grow into a trusting mother!
