Perfect Children

I have said it many times that I have amazing kids. They are smart and they are becoming compassionate and wise young adults but they are far from perfect. I have no illusions about my children and I love them with all my heart. 

The time seems to be quickly sliding away and I can only trust in one thing and that is God. He is the only one who can see them through to the next steps of life. 

Proverbs 22:6 says start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. 

It's easy to look at that verse and think if I keep them in church and teach them about God then they will be the perfect kids and grow to be perfect adults. But sadly that is not the case. My responsibility as their mom is to teach them not just about God but to model God in my life. I want them to have more than brain knowledge of who God is. 

If my kids don't take what I teach them and make it their own by developing a personal relationship with God as their center then they haven't fully learned what they need to know. 

Over the years I've seen the heartache that children can cause parents and parents who crater because their children don't live up to their expectations and the failure of a child devastates them.  Sadder than both of those is the fact that many parents quote Proverbs 22:6 and assume because they took their kids to church they will walk with God forever.  When the life of the parent in no reflected Christ. 

God gave my kids free will just like He gave it to me and because of that my kids have a choice. They can choose to be for God or against Him. That's their choice. If I failed to teach them what it really means to be a follower of Christ and not just a fan then the foundation they have to start with is shaky. They have to experience life and life with God to develop their own beliefs and solidify the foundation that I hope they have learned. Then all I can do is pray and let God do the rest. 

Kids are gonna make choices - some good - some bad - some that are neither good or bad but are part of their personal development. If we lay a strong foundation then we can claim the promise of Proverbs that they will never fully turn from what they learned. I think the hardest part of this is recognizing that there might be many years of wandering in the wilderness for some kids and the turning point may be drastic and may not occur before death. 

Each day I have to release them back to my Father because I can't make them into little replicas of me. (Which is far from perfect) I want them to learn to be replicas of Christ and just as I have to choose daily to seek His face and allow Him to shape me they will too. 

As I've said before. Parenting is hard but I can't even begin to imagine it without God.