8 years ago, my beautiful daughter was FINALLY born into this world.
14 days late, I thought she might not ever show up.
As I looked through pictures to help her make her VIP board at school this year, I felt sad that the first 8 years of my time with her is over. GONE. FOREVER.
In 8 more years, I will be taking her to her driving test.
Handing her the keys to my car.
8 years after that, I may be helping her put on her wedding dress.
Or even helping her dress her own baby.
We don't have that long with them.
TIME IS SHORT.
My prayer for this week has been, "Help me embrace their childishness."
Too often, their childishness is inconvenient. Their childishness gets in the way of MY agenda. Their childishness is messy. Their childishness is frustrating.
You know the people that you meet for the first time, and you can tell immediately that they LOVE, they EMBRACE, they CHERISH childishness. That your child is PRECIOUS to them.
That's who I want to be.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mean the coddling, talk so babyishly sweet, family bed til your grown, treat you like your the best thing that ever entered the world, cater to your every whim kind of mom. More like the Jack Frost in "Legend of the Gaurdians," sort of mom. The mom that knows HOW to have fun, and WHEN to have fun. The kind of mom that guards and protects, yet keeps in mind that she will be launching them on their own in a few short years. The mom that seizes every moment as an opportunity that will be lost if it is not taken.
Yesterday, another 8-year old lost his life at another man's discretion.
TIME IS SHORT. And may be shorter than we even realize.
I always say, "Eight is Great!" May I live each moment of her eighth year, embracing that thought, embracing her childishness, yet looking forward to new levels of maturity.
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