This image may be a bit extreme, but, believe it or not, a pastor who was friends with my father in law, actually wanted to arrange a marriage between Paul and his daughter.  I’m eternally grateful that he didn’t carry through, but sometimes extreme parenting can get in the way of a good relationship with your children.

As most parents will tell you, it’s hard to let go of our children. As the mother of three I’ve had to let go three times and still worry about them from time to time. When God blesses us with children, He also lays on us the responsibility of caring for them, teaching them the right things and giving them what will prepare them for the future.  When they take their first steps, we’re right behind them to catch them if they fall.  When they learn to ride a bike, we add training wheels to make it safe.  We cover their precious little heads with helmets. We provide safety gear, booster seats, hand sanitizers, masks and good nutritious food to keep them healthy and strong.  We want them to have a better childhood than we did.

There comes a time when we have to let go of that sheltering protection and let them learn through their own experiences.  God does that with us every day.  He allows challenges to come into our lives so that we learn how to deal with them.  He knows the pain we feel.  He has experienced the suffering of losing a child.  Still, He is our loving Father and lets us go – like the prodigal son’s father, He is always waiting for that child to return. Letting go isn’t easy, but letting God is.