• If I’d stayed married longer, it would have made one child happier.
• If I’d divorced earlier, it would have made another child happier.
• If I coddle them, it will make them happier in the short term but possibly destroy them in the long term.
• If I make them grow up and take responsibility, daily joy is lessened but long-term joy is more likely.
• If I cut them loose entirely, we would all be miserable.

How does a parent find the happy medium? Parenting is much like a high wire act.  How do you give them tough love – love designed to bring them to adulthood – without breaking their spirits?  Where is the guidebook for this quagmire?

I trust in God.  I trust that my heart, mind and soul are guiding me in the right direction.  I pray for them and for me.  I pray that the Holy Spirit guides my hands and my tongue that I might do and say what is best for them in life and to guide them to God in the afterlife.

Each child grows at his own pace.  Some enter adulthood easily.  Most have multiple starts and stops.  That’s okay as long as they continue moving forward despite the stumbling blocks.

This journey is tough on all of us.  I offer guidance that much of the time is dismissed.  But I still offer it.  They still listen which is a blessing. 

They each must walk their own paths.  I walked mine and I chose to climb the highest mountains and cross the distant oceans instead of walking the easy path. But in that journey, I’ve found joy.  I need to let them stumble, fall and cross the toughest landscapes and trust that they too will find joy in their journeys.

God give me the patience to wait and watch; the strength to catch them when they fall; the wisdom to know when to step in and when to stay out of it; the knowledge that You are the one in charge of it all.