Five Minute Friday :: Middle

Funny this word should be a prompt. I've been reading The Middle Matters: Why That (Extra)Ordinary Life Looks Really Good on You by Lisa-Jo Baker.  I've been reading it because I'm tired in the middle of my life.  Gone are the days I'm holding babies in my arms and being rewarded with cute little smiles.  Gone are the days I fall into bed exhausted after chasing toddlers and cleaning peanut butter fingers while giggling fills my ears.  All those easy field trips to the zoo or train museum or the playland at the fast food place are a thing of the past.

I'm in the middle.  Raising teens and almost teens.  They rarely giggle.  They are too big to hold (but not too big to hug!).  Mention playland at the fast food restaurant and they roll their eyes.  To get them to the zoo I have to ask God to send the absolute perfect weather because if it's too hot or too cold, the complaining is louder than the baboons.  The train museum is just that, a museum, and what teen, tween or young adult wants to spend their video game time reading/learning about trains?  Well, maybe they do, but they sure put up an attitude before we go.

Am I alone?  The tug of war I play in giving them space to be themselves and still growing their character with some form of discipline is tricky.  And boy oh boy I find myself lecturing them when I really, really don't want to.  I can see the wall go up and the door close when I begin telling them why we have certain rules in the house and that yes, those rules pertain to them too.  Frankly, I'm exhausted in the middle of parenting these beautiful children made in the image of God.

And that's just it.  More than anything I'm exhausted by constantly reminding myself that these children, these four gifts from God, are ultimately His.  He's put them in my care, but he's in charge of the outcome.  He uses me to guide them, teach them, love them and hopefully reflect Him in the way I do that.  When I find myself in the middle of another parent/teen battle, I need to loosen my grip at the same time I persevere in helping to shape their character.

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. 

~ Proverbs 22:6

I am in the middle of parenting.  In the middle of the beautiful ordinary part of life and I must remember this:

Let us not grow weary or become discouraged in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap, if we do not give in. 

~ Galatians 6:9 (AMP)

Five Minute Friday is a wild and wonderful flash mob of words. Five minutes on one prompt. No over-thinking or editing.  Please visit Five Minute Friday hosted by Kate Motaung to link up.