One minute I’m married and in my career saying, “Who said I could become an adult? Why am I adulting?”
The next minute I’m holding a baby saying, “Whoa! Who decided I was equipped to be a parent?” Keep in mind, my babies are through adoption, so there was literally a person who said we could have a kid – BOTH TIMES. There were days I was wondering -- What in the world were they thinking when they handed me this kid!?
Next my daughter is driving a car becoming more independent, and this time next year she will be going off to college. My girlfriends will have to remind me of this blog, hand me a hanky, and wait for me to stop doing the ugly, snot-nosed cry when that time arrives.
For all my momma friends who struggle letting go or pushing their baby birds out of the nest. You can do this. You have prepared them for this. You have been a fierce advocate for them. You have been a fierce protector making sure they were healthy, learned good habits, loved Jesus, and many other things. Now it’s time for the release.
Psalm 127:4, Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.
Katniss Everdeen, a character in the movie series Hunger Games, shot a Hoyt Buffalo Bow. Personally, I’d call it a long bow. I learned on a compound bow. BC (Before children), my husband taught me to shoot a compound bow. I had a stabilizer, arrows, bubble level, bow release wrist strap, quiver, and a brace for my left elbow because inevitably my elbow would turn in and would get popped. I pulled back 40 pounds of resistance in order to draw back the bow.
So you understand, the whole picture let’s go over the parts.
- Stabilizer absorbs vibrations when the bow is shot. It helps to reduce the shock to your hands.
- Bubble level is just that. It lets you know if you are aiming your bow level and helps to set the course of the arrow.
- Bow release wrist strap is worn around the wrist, goes down the hand, and clasps on the wire of the bow. This makes it easier to draw the bow back.
- Quiver is what holds the arrows.
- And we talked about the brace. It’s for my own protection.
Your children are your arrows. You are a warrior. You are fierce. Your children have caught you reading your Bible. They’ve heard you praying. They saw you fasting. They’ve seen you worship. They have watched you face hard times. You took them to church, VBS, choir tours and/or camps.
You are the warrior. You are the one who must load your arrow, your child with your hand into the bow because an arrow has a purpose and the purpose isn’t to stay in the quiver. An arrow’s purpose is to make an impact. An arrow goes the distance. An arrow is penetrating, and doesn’t this world need Christian arrows?
Our homes are our quivers, and thankfully, God is our stabilizer. He gives us the Bible as our bubble level, and He gives us girlfriends as the brace of our exposed arm. Girlfriends are there for our own protection. When we want to run after our babies, they are there to hold us back and talk us off the ledge.
Then there’s the resistance. Has your teen given you any resistance the last year while under your roof? CAN I GET A WITNESS? You are pulling back to release them, and they think they are already grown and have the answers. There’s the tension and the resistance.
We load our arrows into the bow. We are the ones who have to draw it back as we inhale. We hold the position until we have our mark in site, and we exhale as we release our arrows. They fly. The soar. They speed toward the target fulfilling their purpose.
There will be excitement as you watch them fly. They will move towards the purpose for which God has called them. This is what you as a warrior have been trained to do, and it is what you have trained your children to do.
Sometimes the arrow misses the mark. That’s okay. The warrior can collect and resend. Sometimes repairs have to be made on fins on the arrows, but the arrow will fly again. The arrow must fly or the arrow isn’t doing its job, its purpose.
And when they hit their mark, when they find their purpose, the warrior is stoked. You will once again be their cheerleader. You will be jumping up and down like a lunatic…or maybe that’s just me. I get excited when I see my kids make their mark and succeed. Their success looks different than anyone else’s on the face of the planet because it is God’s call on their lives using their strengths and gifts, so there’s no need to compare.
So, girlfriends, even though we may not like it, it is time to load the arrow into the bow, breathe deeply, exhale, and release them trusting God will reduce the shock and His word will direct their path. God’s got this, and He’s got them. So release.