29 Dec Home for the Holidays!

Laura’s children are home for the holidays!   It feels nice to have everyone under one roof.  She hopes for lots of family time, especially now that the Christmas frenzy is over.

She wants to recreate traditions from the past: baking cookies, ice skating, decorating the gingerbread nativity, but her kids are no longer interested.  Instead, they want to go out to lunch or the movies with friends, catch some post-holiday sales, or hang out at another family’s house.  It’s painful to let go.

Laura sees her desire to control and how that has played out as her kids grow and mature.  When they were small, she controlled everything they did.  But now they have plans of their own and  cars to drive them there!  They don’t need her in the same way and she feels rejected and alone.  She sees that the family holiday activity has always revolved around what she wants.  Has she tried to mold her children into the people that she wants them to be and placed her hope in that?   If she’s honest, she has not thought much about helping them learn who God has called them to be.

As Laura puts her hope in Christ, she trusts Him and believes that it’s not too late to change the way she nurtures.  She asks her children what they would most like to do this last week of break and they come up with various answers.  She makes plans to spend one-on-one time with each of them, to learn their hopes and dreams for the coming year, to find out how she can partner with each one and how best she can pray for them.

How can you nurture your children and point them toward Jesus in ways that speaks to their hearts in different stages?  What steps can you take to let go of your desire to control?