The day she turned nine I nearly choked on the ice cream when it hit me: half of her childhood is gone. History. Behind us. The life changing day when we first looked in her eyes, held her hand, and clamped her umbilical cord was nine years ago. We were here everyday, but when did she grow up? How did our family grow from the wide-eyed young couple with a wiggly newborn to a family of five in only nine years? Did we do enough in the first nine years? Can we finish this parenting gig in another nine? Have we loved enough and given enough? Bought enough and read enough? Fed enough locally grown produce? Protected but pushed enough? Have we [gulp] spiritually led enough? Are we doing enough? It’s not like I could do much more than my exhausted self is already doing, but there’s no way I’m covering all the bases as it is. This kid is going to need to know how to survive. And thrive. And clean her room so it could be escaped in the event of a fire. 

Remember the Bible story of the widow who gave God all her money? It was a whopping two mites, which is less than a penny today. But she gave her all, and Jesus praised her for it. How about feeding thousands of hungry people with one boy’s supply of bread and fish? My heart rate fritzes out at the thought of feeding more than ten people. I think I’d rather have dental surgery than feed thousands of people at one meal. 

Or think of David, a teenager who wasn’t trained in battle. Imagine the jaws dropping when he downed Goliath with a primitive weapon and a rock. No automatic gun, no strategic battle plan. Just a sling and a whole lot of faith. 

The thing is, God doesn’t need our money or any other resource we can provide. He can turn our efforts into enough. Hallelujah to that, right? With faith, the heart of a servant, and commitment to God, He’s happy to fill in the gaps where we lack. He loves to take what we have, however meager it is, and turn it into enough. More than enough, really. 

She’s twelve now, and instead of panicking that her adulthood is just over the next horizon, I’m trying to focus on being more than on doing. I could drive her to a dizzying number of sports practices, music lessons, and clubs each week in an effort to do enough. After all, she’s got a heap to learn in a short time, so it’s cram time, right? Let’s squeeze in some cooking classes, first aid, educational extracurriculars, bowling league, and work experience. I used to think all that would be necessary to prepare her. Now I realize that quality is more than quantity. So many families are so busy doing that they don’t have time to just be. Time to be still and know God, to be together, to imagine and create and dream. Isn’t this more important than filling the calendar with as much doing as possible?

As the days pass, I see that to give my daughter enough of anything, our family needs time to simply be together. Time to listen, talk, laugh, and share. Time to play, pretend, build forts, and hop in puddles. Because when she turns eighteen, we’re not going to turn in a checklist to God and ask for a retirement pension. God-willing, we’re going to keep on being, to keep on loving, to keep on serving. And with God’s help, that will be enough for her to thrive.  

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I know this mini-series of blog posts specifically about motherhood and homeschooling is quite a bit different than my usual posts, but if you know a mom who would appreciate this article, please share the encouragement 🙂