Do no harm...

Today, among other things, I had a quiet conversation with another parent about how caring for and loving our adult children has mostly become an exercise in staying silent.  We chortled knowingly about all the conversations we've had in our heads: all the advice, profound wisdom and insights we want to share with our beloved children knowing all the while that not ONE word of this wisdom will ever be spoken. They neither want nor need what we think they should know - so mostly we shut up.

This is one of the beautiful but heart-breaking things about growing older with our children: we have to cultivate silence and humility while letting them live their own lives. The other night I was asked, "How do you make sense of some of the things your kids do?"  MAKE SENSE, I said softly, THERE IS NO WAY TO MAKE SENSE OF SOME THINGS THEY DO? YOU JUST HAVE TO ACCEPT THEM. GIVE YOUR BABIES OVER TO THE GRACE OF GOD EVERY NIGHT AND TRUST THAT GOD REALLY IS GOD AND I AM NOT.

"Otherwise," I paused and said to myself, "I would go crazy with worry." 

Almighty God, heavenly Father, you have blessed us with the
]oy and care of children: Give us calm strength and patient
wisdom as we bring them up, that we may teach them to love
whatever is just and true and good, following the example of
our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.