How to Make Your Kids Shine Like Stars

“Look, Mommy, I still fit.”  I turned to find his 5-year-old body wedged into a high chair.

“Wow, you are the biggest baby in the history of the world!”  He giggled and weaseled himself out.

The mama heart strings tightened.  The high chair days went too fast.  I want them back. The high school days will go no slower.  I enter the time between high chair and high school, and I beg God to let time creep.

For 11 years I have had a little one with me at just about any moment of the day.  When one began school, I still had another (or 2) home with me.  Years I vowed to treasure.  And I did.

A wise woman stopped me when I had a 2-year-old clinging to my hand, while I struggled to hold a 9-month-old in the other.  With sweet joy in her eyes, she said, “Sweetheart, enjoy every moment.  It will be over before you know it.”  Her words reminded me of the words that continually whispered into my heart.

Time moves fast.  There is no slowing down.  All we can really do is make the most of each opportunity we are given. And thank God at every turn.

At lunch after church, my oldest was very quiet.  A few times he said, “I just can’t believe summer is over and this is the last day.”  I feel the same way, but I have to hide my sadness and pretend to be excited.  I am excited for them, but each summer completed reminds me I’m one summer closer to saying goodbye.  It’s hard to celebrate the going back to school because one day the back to school will be a sending away.

This year is a bit harder than the previous years.  My baby started kindergarten.

I stand over him as he sleeps tonight.  The last night before we transition into life with 3 elementary aged children.  His cheeks still rounded, his fingers still chubby, his skin still smooth, and lips still soft and small.  And I treasure up the time I’ve had with him the last 5 years.  I know what happens from this point on.  Time speeds up.

Transitions flavor life.  Change adds beauty.  It adds depth.  It strengthens character. Without transitions to new seasons of life, we would lose appreciation for the beauty we hold.

For me the key is to continually shift my thoughts to God.  So as we transition to 3 kids in school, I thank God for the years He’s given us, and ask His blessing on the years ahead.

I’m asking Him to make my children shine like the stars.  Shine like stars for Him. And this verse I will read over my children as a reminder and a prayer for this school year.

Phillipians 2: 12-16

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed -not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.  Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life – in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.

I pray they will become blameless and pure in a crooked and depraved generation, in which they shine like stars.  I want your kids shining like stars too.  Would you join me in praying this for your children and mine this school year?  Let’s pray they shine like stars in the universe.  For Him.

 

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