I turn 51 this year. This morning I looked back over the hills and valleys of my journey this far. Looking back it’s a little easier to see how God is forming me. Here’s what I see I’ve been learning.
I’m stirred to tell my husband and adult sons frequently how important they are to me. The years have flown and I cannot go back in time and love them better in the past, but I can learn from the past and move towards loving better today.
I’m learning to listen when it’s hard, and I have a really good argument, and to apologize when I’ve failed to listen.
I’m learning to hold our relationships with open hands. My husband and sons are not mine to cling to.
They are the ones I deeply love, but they will not make me whole.
They are the ones I want to serve. I want to be salt and light in their lives, and by God’s grace, induce in them a thirst for Jesus.
I’m reminded by the Spirit all the time that this kind of holding with open hands before God, this way of loving, this bent-knee way of serving and praying, this standing firm way of interceding, this faithful way of scattering seeds of God’s word with tears and prayers, and listening ears is how we are to love our neighbors as ourselves in this broken world.
Even those, especially those, who disagree with us about very important things.
You sound very content in your family and in the Lord. That is a beautiful way to be!