GROWN UP CONVERSATIONS with JUNE DOYLE

“Take Heart”

No family is perfect and from time to time our arrows miss their targets. The doctor hands us our child at birth, and before we know it we’re on our own. The truth is, we never stop worrying about our children even when they are grown and have children of their own.

The Psalmist David compares children to arrows in the hands of a warrior. Up to now there are no perfect track records to this thing call ‘Parenting for Dummies.’

Our time with our children is so short lived that most of us prefer to spend doing things that are fun than having open and honest communication that may have a significant impact on our legacy.

A healthy home does not come easily. It’s hard and consistent work. It’s sometimes hitting the target and many times missing the target. There’s no doubt that we love our children, but there are those times when we do not love their behaviour.

Watching a child take a dangerous path and not saying anything because it might make them mad is not love … but fear. True love takes courage to go beyond and above how we may be perceived in the eyes of our children.

Families are not perfect. We miss our targets more times than we wish to confess … but no one can love our children like we do. Whether they no longer listen or care what we say … we are still Mom. When they talk back, complain, or even argue … we are still Mom.

Our comeback is found in Deuteronomy 6:6-9 which says,

“These commandments that I give you today are to be on YOUR hearts.

IMPRESS them on your children. TALK about them when you SIT at home and when you WALK along the road, when you LIE down and when you GET up.

TIE them as symbols on YOUR hands and BIND them on your foreheads.

WRITE them on the door-frames of your houses and on your gates.”
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We may no longer have the final word over our adult children, but we have to trust God that they will be grounded, know right from wrong, and set healthy boundaries in their homes protecting them and their families.

Father, we thank you for the awesome privilege to be Mothers. We pray that there will be a safe place for our children to turn around before it is too late. In Jesus Name, Amen