“The days pass so slowly, but the years pass so quickly.”
The paradox of motherhood:
We look forward to the future – when our children are more independent and our time is a little more our own – and we mourn the past – the preciousness of long, slow days at home with little ones who look to us for everything.
My children grow and change right in front of me. Habits and tantrums and phases and mispronunciations that I thought would last forever suddenly vanish.
Even though there is an ache in my heart for the childishness that my children are so quickly shedding, I am by no means left empty or distraught.
For just as the Lord follows up the deliciousness of summer with the refreshment of fall, so does He gift me – because it truly is a gift – with the new abilities and interests of my growing children.
“The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21
The passing of time, the maturing of our children from helpless infant to semi-helpless toddler to slightly-less-helpless kid is not meant to cripple us sentimental mommies. In fact, we are commanded in Scripture to not mourn for days gone past as if they were “the good ‘ol days.” (Ecc. 7:10)
Rather, there is joy and delight to be found in the newness of each day! This seems to be the very heart of our Lord, who throughout Scripture declares that He is a God of new life (II Cor. 5:17), new mercies (Lam. 3:23), new songs (Ps. 96:1), and of new names (Isa. 62:2).
So as I reflect on the baby that my son once was and the man that he is becoming, I can be content (still with an ache in my heart)…
…for as my children grow older, there are things that I gain and things that I give up…
- I gave up the honor of being the sole source of my children’s nourishment and comfort…but I gained a son who calls Jesus King.
- I gave up the pleasure of rocking my babies to sleep…but I gained the delight of hearing them sing themselves to sleep in their crib.
- I gave up the hilarity of unintelligible “toddler talk”…but I gained delightful conversations with a true master of questions.
- I gave up holding his beloved hand everywhere we went…but I gained a helper who opens doors and carries groceries.
Every day, this list is added to. Every day our children change, grow, and they learn to need us less. And as much as that may feel wrong, it isn’t.
We are trading emeralds for diamonds…summer for fall…we are trading in their dependance on a mommy for their dependance on a Savior. Hard – heartbreaking at times – but worth it!
Header photo by: Mark Pilgrim
