My son wanted to experience the freedom of making his own way without our input. Because of that, we didn't hear from him much at first. He had warned me it would happen. He told me that he wasn't going to call home for a while, and I totally understood his position. I remembered what it was like to start out on my own and I was willing to give him that space to experience this new freedom.

Understanding that and being willing to give him that space was easy. Having it actually happen was something else entirely. Without my son at home, I suffered silently. I wondered if he was safe, and I hoped he was living properly. Had we done enough as parents? Was he able to cope and make right choices? I missed him like crazy! We had been close, and what it came down to was that I wasn't handling his absence very well. I thought to myself: "Well this is it, I have lost my son and he won't need me anymore." Don't misunderstand me. He did call, but not nearly often enough, and the conversations were quickly over. He was having fun, experiencing new things and getting really wrapped up in the adventure of it all.

Within a couple of months however, my son was calling a lot more. He wanted to share his experiences with us. He missed us and called his father for counsel sometimes. He even thanked me for being a good mother to him. My son was a man, but I hadn't lost him at all. He still needed me and wanted to share his life with me. It was me who needed to let go, so that my son could find his own way. It was difficult, but I lived through it.

As parents we are not always prepared for what the future holds. We start with a tiny baby whose every need must be taken care of. Then as the child grows we teach him or her the basics of life. It's a very natural progression that we do willingly. God gave us the inate ability to love our children more than we could even imagine. We protect them, serve them and hope for the best. Proverbs 22:6 tells us to “train up a child in the way he should go.” I think we did that the best way we knew how. We are not however always ready to stop that process.

Proverbs 23:24-27 speaks of raising a wise child who brings delight and makes a mother rejoice. Is my son perfect? No, but he does bring us delight. As a mother I rejoice in the fact that he is a faithful man who will do his best to follow the Lord. That's really all a parent can hope for.