Oh mercy. Mercy, mercy, mercy, freaking mercy….I give.
Tonight has been unpretty. My beautiful daughter and I had an ugly word explosion in the car and in this moment, we are in our separate rooms working through our own muck. I hate it. i hate the separateness from my precious child. Speaking of ugly word explosions, they have become common between my beloved son and I. We seem to be constantly jolted by one another, and not in a positive way. Distance reigns. I want desperately to regain our closeness.
I don’t share any of this to “out” my children. They are teenagers and going through their own stuff. The abundance of pressures on them from their social networks, hormones, temptations and more are weighty on my 46 year old shoulders. God bless it….teenagering is just as tough as parenting sometimes. It’s a difficult season for all of us. They have been through alot and truly are amazing young people. I wonder how often I get caught up in their errors and forget what’s truly important. Considering the ease I have in getting absorbed in my own guilt, shame and errors…I’m guessing I do it with them all too often.
I get stuck thinking that the kids Dad and I have failed them. We divorced…not in the plan. We kinda quit raising them in church…not in the plan. I struggle financially….not in the plan. They are faced with all of the things I can’t protect them from….kind of not in the plan and if it was I was going to have prepared them better. I am sometimes so scattered and that can’t feel super safe to a kiddo who is searching for solidarity….not in the plan. It’s easy to feel like one big oops.
Are we suffering? Not in comparison to many. Are we operating out of hurt?…too often, yes.
And so it is….here we are with our growing pains. I heard a sermon in which the preacher spoke about tomatoes and the yummy, delightful, ripe juiciness they provide us after growing all summer on a vine. His point was that this little tomato made huge progress while it was only a tiny little seed in the dark. It was in fertile soil and when that tiny little seed had so much pressure from growing it burst…but the bursting led to the root and vine growth and eventually to that delectable tomato.
Right now, I can’t see everything on the outside and the inside feels horribly painful, sometimes I want to throw my hands in the air and say F it all. But…there is this tiny little part of me that knows better. Trying to hang on and maintain control, keeping us afloat…I guess that’s a decent option. Throwing my hands in the air and releasing this gob of goo that I’m holding onto so tightly would be best for us all.
“Give it to God”, they say. “Lean into it”, they say. “You are enough”, they say.
I’m trying to find my trust, It’s just super hard. Endless unknowns. Can I trust the outcome even though I’m walking in the dark? I pray His mercies are as abundant as my scattered spirit.
My kiddos and I ….just tiny little seeds going through some growing pains. We are gonna be alright.
SUNKISSED SOUL 