Right Wrongs No Man
This is a crazy ole’ world we live in. And I could pose as a psychic by saying “It will only get crazier!”
I am amazed and astonished by parents today.
And before you become offended, let me be the first to declare I am not the poster child for parenthood, so to speak. I have made more mistakes than I can count. I freely admit that to the world at large, and, more importantly, to my offspring.
If you have hung around me any, you know that I am totally in love with my family. I have GREAT kids! I am so, so blessed. I mean that.
Notice, I said I have great kids, I did not say I have perfect kids. They take after their mother–imperfect to the bone.
I know I have been spared many calamities that I have watched some of my peers suffer through, up to this point in my life.
I am, what the modern society we live in would call a throwback from another time. I should get a grip, right? I should let go, let loose, and let my children “sew some wild oats.” Let them be kids, let them get out there, get their feet wet and make their own mistakes.
Ummm….NO!
My children have guidelines, they have boundaries, they have RULES *shudder* that they live by.
I know parents who do not monitor their children, allow them to come and go as they please, with whomever they please, dressed however they please.
Then when something bad happens they come crying *I don’t know what went wrong!*
And, truly, neither do I.
When did our society decide that you were a bad parent because you behaved like a parent?
I want my children to feel like they can come to me, but I am their mother, not their friend. And I offer an ear, and advise, as their mother. Sometimes I tell them things they don’t want to hear, but they keep coming back, so I guess it didn’t hurt our relationship that I acted *like a mother.*
I have tried to give my children a love for all things of God, a respect for the Word and for the man that God has placed over us. I have taught them about the natural order that the Bible sets forth for us, about holiness, and about separation from worldliness. I want them to know without a doubt, that living for God is the very best of life because I know it truly is.
Oh, problems still come. Bad decisions are made, and situations develop.
What I want them to understand the passage of time is that there is nothing wrong with living right.
Someday when they are old, when their lives are full of memories of the time that has passed them by, if I can somehow help them to be able to look back on this time of their lives without regret, without pain, then that is all I can ask.
I see their potential in the work of the Lord, and I fight on for them. I hear others telling me to back off, but that is not an option. I refuse to just turn my children over to the world. They have been entrusted to me for a time, and I will not bow.
Rules are hard, guidelines can be trying, but if it prevents disaster, if it stops wounds, if it prevents scars, it is worth everything.
You can never go wrong by doing what is right. Life’s are not usually ruined by having morals, by upholding a standard, by walking the straight and narrow.
And to be totally honest, it would be so much easier to just say *whatever* and turn my back to what is happening in their lives. It would be so much easier to be that hip, cool mom. But, no matter how much easier it would seem, the cost is too great. I could cost them their very souls.
I need Your wisdom, Lord. I need it more now than ever as I face the opposition of the world, as I uphold what I know is right, even when it is not popular. You know I’m not looking for popularity anyway. The longing of my heart is to see my children grown, living for you, to see them leave on their wedding days, innocent of the filth of the world, and nervously excited about what lies ahead. I want them to have lasting love without a past to haunt them. I want to see them raise their families to love You and to reverence the things of God.
And someday, that great and beautiful day, I want to hear You say “Well done, thou good and faithful mother.” More than anything, I want my legacy to be my love and faith in You.
