What in your life is a plight and privilege? Motherhood is for me. I came to this realization recently. I had dropped my son off at school in the morning, and because of extracurricular activities, he was gone until late in the evening. By the time he returned home, it had been 13 hours since I’d seen him. Every day is not this way, but he’s growing up, and more and more this routine is becoming our new norm.
My son enjoys learning, playing sports, and being with friends. Because these activities are life-giving to him, they are life-giving to me. As a mother, all I want is to ensure he is God-loving, thriving, and happy. And he is. But I miss him. Strange to say when he still lives under my roof.
Not so long ago, he was always with me. First in my womb and then in my arms. As he grew, that shifted to my lap, and when he was too big for that, we still held hands. We ate meals together, played together, ran errands together, and when I was really tired, we napped together too.
I admit that on many days in those early years of motherhood I longed for a break from the constant togetherness. I craved time for myself without a little one always needing something from me.
Now, I long to have that kind of togetherness again. Thankfully, even though our relationship is changing, on most days when he walks through the front door, he greets me with a hug and sits down to talk. Despite the recent scarcity of our time together, our love has remained close. And for that, I’m so grateful.
As I consider this new season of parenting I’ve entered, I’m reminded of God’s design for parents and children. Independence is the goal of parenting, isn’t it? We try our best to teach our children in the way they should go, hoping they won’t depart from it (Proverbs 22:6). We prayerfully raise them to be confident and capable adults who are able to care for themselves and others.
This is an excerpt from The Plight and Privilege of Motherhood on Crosswalk. To keep reading click here.
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