My son David recently reminded me of an important principle in parenting. Our kids are arrows, the Bible says--defined not by how cute they are inside the quiver, but by how well they soar when they are released from the bow.
David loves archery, and his prized possession is his official bow (lefty, of course), and his favorite hobby is target practice. He had an arrow that looked fine to me, but he could detect that there was a flaw in its design. A slight flaw, but one that made him too nervous to shoot with it. Sure enough, not long after, when he applied slight pressure to his arrow, it completely broke. It was split inside, beneath the visible surface. Had David shot it from his bow, it would have flown poorly and even damaged his hand.
I was reminded of my job as a parent. There is a defining moment in my children's lives when I will have to let them go. The test of my parenting is not how nice things look here, where I can control their environment. The test is how well they will soar. Inward flaws, barely discernible now, will produce a split. As I think of my friends who are in that "letting go" process right now, taking your kids off to college and releasing the bow trigger for the first time, I am soberly reminded of the short time I have with these "arrows" before God asks for them back for His service. They were not given to me to keep for myself, but to release. And I am reminded of the grave importance of praying each day, earnestly pleading with God, on behalf of my children that God will preserve their integrity and save them for Himself.
David loves archery, and his prized possession is his official bow (lefty, of course), and his favorite hobby is target practice. He had an arrow that looked fine to me, but he could detect that there was a flaw in its design. A slight flaw, but one that made him too nervous to shoot with it. Sure enough, not long after, when he applied slight pressure to his arrow, it completely broke. It was split inside, beneath the visible surface. Had David shot it from his bow, it would have flown poorly and even damaged his hand.
I was reminded of my job as a parent. There is a defining moment in my children's lives when I will have to let them go. The test of my parenting is not how nice things look here, where I can control their environment. The test is how well they will soar. Inward flaws, barely discernible now, will produce a split. As I think of my friends who are in that "letting go" process right now, taking your kids off to college and releasing the bow trigger for the first time, I am soberly reminded of the short time I have with these "arrows" before God asks for them back for His service. They were not given to me to keep for myself, but to release. And I am reminded of the grave importance of praying each day, earnestly pleading with God, on behalf of my children that God will preserve their integrity and save them for Himself.
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