NOTICE: The following
article is written by the author itself and not by me, I am not trying to
violate their copyright. I will give some information on them. As it is Mother’s Day 2013, I
will post four devotions of the week articles.
PAGE TITLE: CBN Mother’s Day
Devotion
ARTICLE TITLE: Letting Go: A
Mother’s Day Reminder
DATE: N.A
AUTHOR: Diane Markins
AUTHOR
INFORMATION: Diane
Markins writes and speaks in a "high def, life-transforming style"
about issues that impact daily living.She is the host of Bold Living with Diane Markins radio show, author of Women in
High Def, and is also a speaker. She enjoys travel and has been
from Mexico to Zimbabwe; but always loves coming home to roost in Arizona near
her family. See more of her writing at DianeMarkins.com.
 |
Any
good mom’s heart longs to cling to her child. Sometimes we have to be prodded
to ease up a bit. Only when it becomes obvious that letting go is the best
choice do we relax our iron grip… like the mother in 1 Kings 3:16-27. As the
story goes, two women brought a baby to Solomon. Each woman claimed the baby
was her child. "Cut the baby in half and give half of the baby to each
woman," Solomon said. "NO!" screamed the real mother, "Give
her the baby. Do not kill him." Then Solomon knew who the real mother was
because of the way she loved the baby. He gave the baby to its real mother.
My
son was only about six-months-old when I first started teaching him to “swim.”
It was sort of a trend at that time to train babies to hold their breath, flip
on their backs and float in a pool. Theoretically this would save them if they
ever fell in unsupervised.
It
sounds really dumb now, but I was a young mom and since there was a pool almost
everywhere we went in Phoenix, I jumped in (pun fully intended) with both feet.
Clutching the dearest thing in the world to me, I became paralyzed when the
instructor said it was my turn to let him go in the water. She spoke to me like
a small child learning to ride a bike. “You can do this…let go…he’ll be OK!”
With
my heart thudding in my ears I finally pried my fingers away from his pudgy
little body, blew in his face (so he’d inhale) and released him with a gentle
shove toward the instructor. She retrieved him immediately and he emerged with
a sputter and a giant grin back at me. Soon, the flip/role/float was mastered
with great pride.
At
age four, I carefully taught him to ride a horse. When he was thrown in a
field, my dad held me back from running to the rescue, instead insisting I help
him back in the saddle to complete another lap. “This is a great life lesson,”
Dad told me. “He’ll learn courage and not to fear failure if he gets right back
up there.” I wanted to grab my little guy and flee, but I lifted him aboard
that animal and told him to be brave. He grew to be cautiously bold… neither
reckless nor fearful.
In
high school my boy went away to work at a youth camp one summer. They were
short-staffed so he was required to work long hours of labor with only one day
off each week. He didn’t know anyone, was feeling isolated and exhausted and
wanted to come home early. It broke my heart to hear him sound so sad and
desperate on the phone, but my husband assured me it was best to make him stay.
When he returned home, he thanked us and told us it was a wonderful and
life-changing experience.
David
taught his son, Solomon this less as well.
"Be
strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for
the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until
all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished.” 1
Chronicles 28: 20
Especially
for mothers, the journey of parenting is an ongoing lesson of letting go. We
innately want to protect and direct our kids away from pain, danger or
discomfort. When they’re grown, these instincts don’t subside, but as we see
our kids gain strength, wisdom and courage, it becomes increasingly clear that
we must continually release them. It’s a little easier with the assurance that
God never lets them go. Perhaps the Lord’s nudging you to relinquish a bit of
the grip on your child. He may be saying, “Let go…you can do this…with me,
he’ll be OK.”
And
for those blessed enough to still have a mother, perhaps you need to extend an
extra measure of grace when she holds a little too tightly. Especially on
Mother’s Day, try to receive it as the expression of love it’s meant to be.
“Her children rise up and bless her…” Proverbs 31:28
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