A GIFT FROM ABOVE

At the start of the October school examinations last year, a very good friend and mother shared an article with me, saying “It was a timely and inspiring piece”. 

So this month as we celebrate Mothers’ Day amidst the unavoidable exam anxieties, perhaps it may bring us, as it did her, a sense of perspective and sanity, to our otherwise motherhood mayhem.

The article, entitled “I Don’t Want to Raise Successful Children”, may not immediately strike you as something to share with others, but I would strongly encourage you to take the time to read it. The premise of Lysa TerKeurst’s article⁽¹⁾ is, My job isn’t to push success for my kids. My job as a parent is to recognise the unique way God created each child and point them to Jesus at every turn along their journey toward adulthood. Yes, I want my kids to learn and thrive and grow up educated, but it’s not a flaw in me or them if they don’t have straight A report cards and trophy cases full of sports medals.

In her search to make sense of her role as a Mother, TerKeurst’s thoughts stemmed from a particular scripture verse: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6). This struck a familiar note for me - something I had quite forgotten from 13 years ago - back to the time when I was blessed with a gift from above, my daughter.

From birth till she was nearly five, “Train Up This Child” and a series of other comforting and inspiring songs would play from this old cassette tape by Kelly Willard called “Bless My Little Girl”⁽²⁾. It played every time I prepared her for nap or at bedtime. But really these became more my prayers than it was songs for her to fall gently to sleep. Willard sang beautifully these tender lyrics: 

Give us Your wisdom and teach us the things that we need to know.

To train up this child in the way that she should go.

Lord you have placed a precious life in our hands.

Now give us the grace that she may be raised according to Your plan.

I have always felt that our children have been hand-picked for us according to God’s plan. They are only temporarily ours, a loan of love and we are to keep them on the path toward His plan and purposes. As they come from God, so they are gifted as God intended. Each child is specially made to be part of the larger plan of God that we cannot yet see. 

⁽¹⁾ http://proverbs31.org/devotions/devo/i-dont-want-to-raise-successful-children/

⁽²⁾ Music CD from Integrity Music, Inc. (matching baby boy version also available)