Once there was a little girl who was learning to walk. The trouble was, her mother wouldn't let her fall down. Every time she was about to fall, her mother would rush over and catch her. It was hard to learn how to walk if she couldn't fall down, but the girl was too little to be able to tell her mother. Her mother thought she was taking care of her when in fact she was keeping her from learning to take care of herself. Letting her fall would have shown trust in the child, trust that she could get up. It would have taught her that she wasn't so fragile that she couldn't recover if she hurt herself.
We are all like this mother once in a while, protecting one another from important lessons in life. This doesn't mean we have to let someone get seriously hurt, but that we allow each other the freedom to learn and grow in individual ways.
What will I be able to learn from my little stumbles today?
Hazelden Foundation.
My mum would not allow me to stumble growing up. She would end up doing mainly everything for me. Frustrating and frightening my little girl's heart. If she did try to teach me something, I would be watched like a hawk, have fear and shame instilled in me, and criticized. My confidence was shot from such an early age. And eventually I gave up and gave in.
I missed out on a lot of basic domestic life long learning skills. My mum has control issues. Ruled by irrational fears. Not allowing me a healthy trip, stumble and fall period in my life.
Today, I have changed. Become so much stronger. Confident in whom Christ created me to be.
My mum still is taken back with some of the things I do today. Especially when I challenge her. Something I would get slapped across the face periodically as a teenager.
Though she still argues and verbally criticizes, her little girl can stumble freely now as an adult and not worry about skinning her knee!
Amen, well said.
ReplyDeleteYes, Jesus allows us to fall so that we, ourselves can search for the help we may need. Sometimes they are trials which strengthen us and sometimes they are things that lead us to stray as did the prodigal son. In that case, if we have known the love of the Lord, we will return to Him.
ReplyDeleteWonderful:)
ReplyDeleteThrough trials, we learn how truly empty and incapable we are without Jesus. I often remind my hubby and I that sometimes, we need to let our child make his decisions now that he is older. Whether it is a win or fail, but in life, that's how we learn. That's how we value what truly matters most. And I learned it because that's what He does for me. I'm so glad that you are learning so much from the Hands that never let go. God bless JBR!
ReplyDeleteI agree with this to a point. I'm sorry but I was always there to protect my children when they first started to walk. Obviously at some point to we have to let our children learn things on their own.
ReplyDeleteMy mother never protected me. As a mother myself I found it hard to know when I was too protective. It is so hard to find the right mix.
ReplyDeleteLoved the story... God is the only perfect parent! If it's not prying too much, may I ask how does your mom feel about your blog?
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry you felt hurt by your mother’s intervention, but I am guilty of being one of those mothers. My daughter is now 24 and she tells me she is grateful for those interventions for they taught her trust, someone always being there for her. She said it made it easier for her to understand a God who would always be there for her. I was criticized that my daughter would never learn any “independence”. Scriptures tells us to be totally dependent upon God. The book of Acts spoke of the members of the fellowship being dependent on each other for their needs. I do not believe independence is all that good.
ReplyDeleteHowever I did not rule over my daughter with fear but in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The very folks that criticized me are now asking how did I raise such a thoughtful, considerate, unselfish young lady. I grew up being independent and push to do, do and do on my own, with no help from others. This is not God’s way. This nation prizes independence and because of it the benevolence work the church was once well known for is being done by the government and people complain about taxes.
One government worker even commented to me, “What happened to the churches doing this job?” Society breeds independence for socialistic reasons, the more we depend on government, the more control it has on our personal lives. The enemy of our soul is not stupid, divide and conquer, are his methods not the Lords. God is about drawing people together through needs, depending on each other. A cord of 3 is stronger than one.
Good post! We have to be able to learn from our mistakes and missteps. We can recover and learn how to try again.
ReplyDeleteI was too protective with my own child and see now that he is an adult how my being too over protective affected him. It's good that you have been able to come through what happened to you and are learning to be independent by making your own mistakes and learning from them
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