Women have traditionally been given the role of caring for their children. In the womb, a child depends on its mother for sustenance and protection. From the time they are born, they possess the innate knowledge to feed from the mother, find comfort and warmth in her arms. Mom has everything son or daughter needs to survive the next 16 or so years.
As a child grows, she or he starts to learn to care for itself. As the years pass, children can cut food for themselves. They make their own clothes, and decide whether they run a red light, or not. We are in awe when they hit milestones like graduations or get a driver's license. Moms also worry about a child hanging out with the wrong crowd, or whether they are eating right. It's in our motherly instinct to care for our young.
One of the challenges of being a Mom, is adapting as our children grow. We always will want to know where they are and what time they will be coming home. It's difficult to deal with growing teens. They still are our "children", but they want to be treated as adults. A titanic feat to achieve is discerning when and how to continue parenting a child and when to relate to a "child" as an adult. As a child grows in age, a balance in the complexity of this relationship becomes more difficult to achieve.
We want the best for our kids, so we want to be able to make decisions for them, and at some point see them making wise decisions for themselves. But, when and how does a mom let go? There has to coe a moment when we must trust what we have done to raise our children, what we have taught them, and also depend on God's providence for them. We aren't near perfect, nor have we done everything right to rear our kids. But we have used the tools, strength, and wisdom God has provided along the way. We must trust God, ourselves, and foster their independence along the way.
Mom won't be at college to wash his clothes. She won't know if she is eating to much junk food, nor will mother be able to force the child to go to church when he or she is away from home -- choices they will need to make for themselves, some good and some not.
Pray for Sue, as she raises Katy, with all the demands of a mom, with the normal challenges brought on by the teenage years, with the added demands of living in a culture and country other than their own (Sue's and Katy's). Pray for Katy as she grows from being a child to being a teen, and into a young woman. Pray for wisdom and the Fruit of the Spirit for both of them.
Ask God to give Sue and Katy good friends, counselors, and the tools they need to be Godly women. May they honor God in all they say and do. May they bless each other and also others. May God use them as a living witness to the mothers and daughters they will be ministering to in Costa Rica.
Miriam Chacon-Peralta, Mother and MPT Member
