My 4 year old, tells me he wants to grow up and be a baseball player, in fact a catcher (just like his big brother) Being 4, I find it easy to encourage him.
My 8 year old boys, one tells me he’s going to be an artist, the other a ball player, however their list changes depending on the day. I still find it easy to encourage them.
My 17 year old daughter, tells me she wants to be a cosmologist and want’s to go to cosmetology school, instead of heading straight to college. Right now she doesn’t know what she wants to be when she ‘grows’ up. I find it hard to encourage her? The reason why, is because when she was little, she was very sick, diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 3. She has a few side effects from the chemo, one of them being that her hands shake a bit. So I feel that being a cosmologist may be hard on her.
Am I looking out for her best interest? Probably, but what I really think is happening here is that I’m letting my own beliefs and fears get in the way. As parent’s we often let our mistakes, opinions and our inabilities decide the lives of our children.
I can recall, telling my father that I wanted to grow up to be a nurse. He discouraged me by telling me that I shouldn’t be a nurse, I should be a doctor. I didn’t want to be a doctor, therefore never thought more about nursing, because I wouldn’t be living up to the expectations of my father. Who knows, I could have been an excellent nurse!
I can recall, having a song recorded at one of those recording studios at a theme park. Proud of how that song turned out, I played it to my mother, she commented that my gasp of air should be quieter. Really? Lots of singers gasp, but that one saying gave me doubt on my capabilities of singing. Who knows, I could have been a grammy award winning singer!
Can you imagine if Tiger Woods parents told him he stunk at Golf or if Tom Brady’s parents told him he couldn’t throw the football well?
Sometimes we can let people of influence get in the way of our paths, we can often get off track because we doubt our own capabilities and have compared ourselves to others. I truly believe that God has given us each a gift and has a plan for our lives and when I came across this passage at Church it just hit me right square in the eye!
“Have i not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” Joshua 1:9 NIV
As a Christian Mother, I need to make sure that when I encourage my children I take “me” out of it and focus on them! I know as long as I’m encouraging my children to following this passage, that’s all that matters. With his spirit within them, whatever mistakes they make or directions they take in their lives could be leading them to the knowledge they need to know in order to define who they are and will become.
Do you sometimes let your fears get in the way of encouraging your children?
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This reminds me of a story I recently read about Angelica Houston. At 30 she decided she wanted to be an actress, and her father told her it was too late. (He was a famous director.)
How courageous of her to leap ahead anyway.