Let Them Be Little

Remember when they wanted to be held?
Remember when they snuggled?
Remember the make believe days when fairies were real?
When bad became good with just one kiss?
When beds became forts,
and pillows were made for happy dreams?
Remember when they thought they could fly?
They believed in fairy tales and kingdoms.
They played with dolls, and built cities with Lego’s. They played outside for hours.
On tire swings and monkey bars.
Or just staring at cloud shapes that came alive to tiny eyes.
And you loved the innocence their lives beheld.
Remember when you would tuck them in and they would smile and giggle and say this was the best day ever?


Remember when they were little?


Remember when they got sick?
One child after another? When fatigue had you crying right along with them?
Remember when they were sad and the tears of their tiny broken hearts was more than you could stand?
Remember when dreams became bad, and they didn’t want to go to bed at night?
Remember the peer pressure and teasing and the sadness that ensued?
And you hated that sin had made life so cruel.
Remember when you tucked them in, and they begged you not to send them to school in the morning. Remember when they realized they couldn’t fly? Clouds were just clouds.
Fairy tales weren’t true. Dolls were for babies.


Remember when they weren’t little any more?


Remember them now.
Remember the times they had to go through heart wrenching circumstances in their lives, with their own little families? With their spouses? Remember the nights you sat alone with your husband in the very house they were raised in, and shed tears for the heartache your adult children were facing?
Or could be facing even now.
And you cried more than you ever did from fatigue when they were little.
Remember the helplessness you felt because this was life? This was adulthood.
This wasn’t something a kiss could make better.
And you hate that sin has made life so cruel.


Let them be little mama.
Let them be little for as long as possible.
Don’t fall into the trap of making your oldest responsible for your youngest,
when he’s just a baby still himself.
Don’t tell your children to grow up.
Don’t yell at them for ‘not thinking’.
Don’t expect them to react like an adult.
Let them be little, because you will blink
and the heartache this world throws at them will break your own heart.


And then you will wish they were little again.


Don’t dwell on the bad days.
You are mama. The same mama who helped them believe in fairytales and made their childhood days the best days ever.
Remind your adolescent and adult children of the beautiful days. Show them there will always be a kingdom, one far better than a fairytale could ever capture.
Luke 1:33, Isaiah 9:7, Psalm 145:13, Daniel 7:27.
Show them the sunshine through the clouds. Encourage them to see those beautiful shapes. To lay down and rest once in a while.
To play and to believe in good again.
Because God is always good, and his kingdom is being prepared for us even now.
John 14:2, Psalm34:8, Psalm 100:5, Psalm 107:8, Psalm 145:9,
And His goodness will always, always prevail against the bad.
And He loves them more than your mama heart ever could.


And then, as hard as it might be, choose to believe that yourself.
And give Him those tears you cry for them.
Knowing how much He loves you as well.


Let them be little mama.
Show them they can fly.
Even when they aren’t little anymore.
Remind them of how much God loves them.
Remind them that He will never leave their sides, that He is in control even when they can’t see the good. Help them believe in that good again.


And remember that He is holding them when you no longer can.


And as they fall asleep at night, be that mama that made them believe that pillows were made for happy dreams again. The mama that whispered encouragement to their grown up hearts. The hearts that once held so much innocence.
Be the mama that continually reminded them that day~


That every day can still be the best day ever.