Sometimes being a parent is pure pleasure.

Holding a newborn baby and marveling at the life in your hand; the picture of the love between you and your spouse. Watching your toddler discover the world; to learn to take those first wobbly steps. Seeing your child master a skill; to ride a bike; to play the piano; to knock a baseball clear out of the park. Or witnessing them develop good character; raking leaves for the neighborhood widow; returning to a store after they discover they were given too much change.

Such discoveries make a mother's heart proud.

But other times, being a parent is pure pain.

Those times when you watch your child make a wrong move; choose a wrong path or hold a wrong view. How much easier it is when they are young and you can simply make them "do the right thing". How painful it is when they are older, to let them begin to make their own mistakes and then, learn the painful lessons that those choices often bring.

A friend just asked me last week what is the best parenting advice I'd been given. I answered,

"To pray that God will allow your kids to experience whatever they need to (mistakes and all) in order to become totally and completely sold out and living for Him. And that they will know that we love them unconditionally no matter what."

Frightening prayer.

We moms would rather control, shelter, make decision for our kids. And there is a place for that sometime when they are young.

Todd and my greatest fear as parents has not been having a wild child, but having one who is playing "good church kid" and obedient on the outside, but who does not have a real relationship with Christ and later, chucks all things Christian as a young adult (seen it happen DOZENS of times)!!

I'd rather have one who is honest, wrestles with real faith and then, in God's perfect timing, makes it their own. Of course we train them in the ways of the Lord. We let them experience His work in our lives. We take every opportunity to point them to God. But we remember that how we finish is more important than how we start. But we moms are fearful and freak out because we equate a "perfect-yes-ma'am-no-sir-quiet-outwardly-obedient-envy-of-the-moms-at-church" child with success as a parent.

One who is a pistol means we are a "bad mom"; However.....fast forward many years. Sometimes (of course not always) the "perfect" ones are living life on the wild and sinful side and the "pistols"? Well..they are totally sold out to Jesus.

Don't try to shove your child in the perfect box. They don't always fit. And some kick the box open and run for the unholy hills.

Oh yes....along with this prayer...ask for patience too!!! :-)

Yes, sometimes parenting is painful. But seeing a child make a wrong choice and then, when confronted, exhibit honest remorse, a real change in behaviour and a renewed committment to Christ.....well.....in a strange way, that can be a pure pleasure too.

Hang in there moms. Parenting is always a mixture of pain and pleasure.

Blessings,

Karen Ehman, KarenEhman.com