What our children need more than anything else

It was one of those rare moments during our family vacation when I had Brennan, my 8 year old son, all to myself.

My husband, Mike, had taken our other two boys, Cal and Owen, to the driving range but Brennan asked to stay with me so we could have a date of our own.

We rode our bikes to the river, played in the pool for a while, and then resigned to our lounge chairs for lunch.

While we were chatting over french fries and fruit cups, we overheard a little girl, who had been jumping in and out of the pool for a while, say to her parents:

“Watch this! I’m about to do something awesome!”

Brennan turned to me and grinned. I could tell he was imagining what kind of “something awesome” this little girl was about to attempt.

“Hey Brennan?” I asked, as the little girl leaped from the edge of the pool and swirled high into the air.

“Yeh, mom?”

I waited until our eyes locked.

“I think that is exactly what God said when He was about to create you!”

Brennan’s huge smile gave me permission to keep going.

“Do you know how I know that?” “How?”

“Because you are made in God’s very image. You are God’s masterpiece, Brennan. He knows every hair on your head and every thought in your heart. He knows where you shine and He knows where you struggle. And He calls you wonderfully and perfectly made. He calls you awesome.”

Brennan snuggled in close and put his head on my chest. I could have stayed like that for hours, letting the assurance of God’s love settle in his soul. But Brennan is an eight year old boy so about four seconds later he jumped up and declared, “OK mom, lets get back in the pool! I want to see if my nerf guns will shoot under water.”

I hesitated to share this story because it might make me appear like a mom who thinks she has this parenting thing figured out. So please let me assure you that my brokenness and my weaknesses are on daily display in our home. I am stumbling through this parenting thing and I still have so much to learn about parenting my kids with grace. So much.

But this I do know and believe with all my heart: There is no greater gift we can give our children than anchoring their identity in the truth that they are fully known, fully accepted, and fully loved by God.

**Finish reading this article on Emily Wierenga's blog, where I am guest writing today.