Sometimes I look at my son and my daughter and wonder what they will be like when they grow up. Will they be kind, compassionate, empathetic?
I want so much for both of them and feel a tremendous burden of responsibility to teach them as much as I can about the world and relationships - because one day I know they will leave their parents and cleave to their spouse - starting their own journey in life.
My son, Wyatt, is empathetic, he is kind and loving. I want him to grow up knowing how to treat a girl - whether she's his friend or something more one day. I want him to treasure and protect his love one day.
For my daughter, Maddie, I desire her to be confident in who she is as a young woman - knowing that her Father in Heaven loves her more than anything. I want her life to be full of love so she doesn't go looking for that love and admiration from other people and things. I want her to expect to be loved and treasured and protected by whoever God has chosen for her to marry one day.
Recently I bought a book for Maddie at the Christian bookstore. It was about a princess and three knights (that's actually the title) and the artwork was beautiful. I sat on the floor in the store and read it to her and found myself tearing up as I read it to her.
The father of the princess is choosing a husband for his daughter and he wants him to have all the right qualities - but more than anything he wants a man who will cherish and love his daughter for her internal beauty and not just her physical beauty.
In the end it is the knight who refuses to put the princess in danger - saying that he loves her and would never take her anywhere near the cliff - who wins the heart of the girl and her father. He cherishes and treasures her for the rest of their lives - always protecting her.
Today at lunch Wyatt told me that he is going to protect his little girlfriend - "Mama, I'm going to protect Nicole when I grow up."
My mind raced forward 20 years thinking of who he will be as a young man and I know that my little boy is going to grow up to be a young man who cherishes, treasures and protects his love.
I hope that in some way he will grow up learning how to be a Godly man and one day the spiritual head of his household. I pray that he will continue to offer such beautiful, insightful prayers as he grows and that his walk with God and Jesus will continue always.
I pray that Maddie will grow into a young woman who loves Jesus. I hope she will never settle for less than what she deserves - a young man who cherishes, treasures and protects her just like her Heavenly Father does.
These things weigh heavily on my heart. Sometimes the burden of shaping children - leading them towards the adults they one day will be - overwhelms me. I see bright moments - breakthroughs - and it carries me through the darker times when I feel discouraged.
