Growing Up: Who’s Responsible?

+Jeanne Takenaka @JeanneTakenaka

UPDATE: I’m so sorry I forgot to mention the winner of my giveaway from last week! Michaela Weidinger, you won! I’ll contact you to get information to send you your prize. Thanks for entering, everyone. 

How is it they grow so quickly?

I remember holding our first son in the hospital—twenty minutes old—gazing into his dark blue eyes, feeling my heart twist and turn to mush. Counting each finger. Each toe.

I remember tickling the palm of his tiny hand and his fingers instinctively wrapping their sweetness around mine.

I remember holding our youngest, only a day old, the weight of his wee body warming my arms on that hot August day. I rocked him in the rocking chair at the cradle home where he spent his first few days. Him gazing into my eyes while he sucked the bottle. And my heart intertwining with his in those first glimpses.

The days are, slow but the years? They truly fly by. You blink and the kids are thirteen and eleven.

I still see childlike innocence in their eyes, usually first thing in the morning, when they’re still waking up. I hear their “happy” in the constant exuberant words that fling from their mouths around the breakfast table.

My two boy-men . . . growing so quickly. I’m afraid to blink again. They’ll both be grown and out of the house.

In a world that tries to beat them up, to drag them down, I yearn to be the one who can protect them. After friends say hurtful things, I want to cradle them in my arms, comb my fingers through their hair, and reassure them that it’s all going to be okay.

But the truth is, I can’t make everything okay for them anymore. The truth is, making everything okay isn’t in the job description God gave me when he offered me the gift of motherhood.

The truth is: keeping them safe, that’s God’s job. My role is to share what I know about Jesus with our boys. To teach Him in those moments when the boys are receptive, and to live out my walk with Jesus.

My role is to pray like crazy for them. To pray for their hearts, their minds, words, and choices . . . that they will grow to reflect Jesus one day.

To pray protection over them. There’s an enemy, and he wants to steal my boys’ joy, their soft hearts.

He wants to destroy them.

But God? His role is to quicken their spirits to want Him. His role is to teach them when they fall short, to enable their hearts to receive comfort and truth when the world’s lies compete with His word.

His role is to pick them up when they fail. And, heaven forbid, should they choose to walk away and live worldly for awhile, His role is to draw them back.

He will use people to aid in this, but ultimately, my boys’ hearts are in His hands. (Click to tweet) Their lives are ours to mold for a little while, but ultimately, they belong to Him. Hubby and I are the stewards of these two precious souls.

As they step beyond the edge of childhood and into manhood, I need to hold them with open hands. Yes, mothering is the most amazing, most terrifying, most heart-rending job there is. My heart is completely invested in these two sons. Completely, totally in love with them.

And even so, God loves them more. I love them forever, but God loves them eternally.

What about you? Who in your life do you love forever? How do you trust Jesus with them?

**P.S.—I will be in an all-day meeting today, but I’ll comment back and visit blogs within the next couple days. 🙂 I’m looking forward to hearing from everyone. 🙂

Today, I’m linking up with #RaRaLinkup and Holly Barrett.