LETTING GO OF OUR (HIS) CHILDREN

Part 1 ‘Good Intentions’

 

 “ALL THINGS were created by Him and FOR Him. For His pleasure, ALL THINGS were created.”

Colossians 1:16 and Revelation 4:11

 

 

Once there was a lady gardening in her backyard. As she was digging in the earth with her hands, she saw a little caterpillar climbing up a leaf. The caterpillar quietly climbed the leaf and feasted on it as he climbed. The lady had never seen a caterpillar in the garden before and asked the little caterpillar, “What are you doing?” The little caterpillar replied, “I am just enjoying the day, eating and waiting on the Lord to reveal His purposes to me.” “His purposes, what does that entail?” the lady asked. “I am not sure yet, but inside my heart, I know He created me to be so much more than I am. I know one day, I will discover my true purpose and why I was created, but, until then, I will enjoy eating and crawling up this plant.” Two days later, the lady returned to the leaf looking for the caterpillar. “Little caterpillar, where are you?” asked the lady. “I am over here!” yelled the caterpillar. “Over where?” inquired the lady. “I am enclosed in this cocoon underneath the leaf,” replied the caterpillar. When the lady saw the cocoon, she was frightened. She asked, “Little caterpillar, what happened; you are all covered in a strange net?” The lady frantically yelled. “You aren’t free anymore; you can’t eat or crawl like you used to! You are trapped! I must do something!” The little caterpillar said, “No, I am good right here. I don’t understand why this is happening to me but the Lord said He created me for His purpose. I don’t like this place, but I know I will be just fine.” The lady didn’t believe him. Thirteen days past and the caterpillar was still hidden in the cocoon. By that time, the lady was overcome with fear. She thought to herself, “I got to do something to save the little caterpillar. He needs me I need to set him free so he can eat and climb the plants like he used to.” A voice came to her and said, “Why don’t you ask the Lord what to do, after all, He created Him for His pleasure.” So the lady prayed, “Lord, how can I help the poor little caterpillar who is stuck in a sticky net?” The Lord didn’t say a word. Instead of waiting on the Lord to answer, the lady went into her kitchen, got a knife, and pulled the cocoon from the plant, then, cut it open. The lady felt so relieved she had rescued the little caterpillar from his misery. She said with joy, “Little caterpillar, you are free now, go climb and eat on the plants like you used to.” But to her amazement, the little caterpillar was no longer a caterpillar but a beautiful monarch butterfly. When she threw the little butterfly up into the air to fly, he fell to the ground, weak and sickly. Then, the little butterfly said, “In my cocoon, separated from you and the world, my Lord spoke to me and told me just who I am and why I was created. He said He created me to soar the heavens and to travel from flower to flower to pollinate them so vegetables and flowers could grow. Had you asked the Lord and waited for His response, He would have told you all about His timetable for my transformation. He uses all things for my good and His purposes, even seemingly bondage and isolation. You see, I was created to be in my cocoon for 14 days. I only had one more day in my cocoon to strengthen my wings to fly away on my own, but thanks to you, I won’t.” Then the little butterfly quietly laid on the ground sick thinking he would never fulfill his purpose. All of a sudden, the wind of God brushed over his little weak and sickly body and the little butterfly began to flutter his wings and off into the air he flew. The lady was both saddened and happy; saddened she didn’t wait on the Lord’s answer and wisdom of what to do, but happy, the Lord fulfilled His purposes in the life of the little butterfly despite her disobedience.

 

 

I know many of us can relate to this story in so many ways. I want to talk about how we hinder the purposes of God in our (His) children’s lives when we don’t inquire of the Lord for His wisdom and guidance in instructing His children.  One way we do this is we rely on our Good Intentions to justify our actions.

 

Let’s talk about Good Intentions. There are two trees always standing before us in the center of our souls; The Tree of Life (Christ’s Life and Wisdom) and The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Our Father forbids His children to eat from The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil but we do it anyway and past the fruit on to our children and loved ones, with Good Intentions. Eve did not pass the fruit to Adam to eat to kill him, but because she loved him. She had Good Intentions, right? In our failure to ask the Lord what He wants to do in handling the struggles, disobedience, or behaviors in His children’s life… we take matters into our own hands. Our techniques such as using common sense, what others are doing, and what seemed good at the time seems to work for us. Instead of life, peace, and freedom, our children experience fear, anxiety, and bondage. Many of us were raised by parents with Good Intentions. We learned to say, “They did the best they could.” That is true, but Father is trying to teach us a more excellent way of parenting. I know it is not always our fault because our children make some very bad decisions. I so agree. Our Papa was the best parent in the universe who gave loving boundaries to His children and they violated His desires for them and they suffered the consequences. However, I have witnessed over the years in working with parents crippling their children’s souls using fleshly reasoning, enabling, or controlling them in the name of Good Intentions, and the reason, “I was trying to help them.”  Good Intentions come from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil not from the Tree of Life. Our Father is so merciful and gracious to teach us His truth. He longs for us to remain dependent on Christ’s Life within us instead of leaning and trusting in the ingenuity of the flesh so the lives of His children and those around us will experience His Life and not death.

 

Let Go of Our Children along with Our Good Intentions.

“Letting Go means to entrust our children (His) into the hands of the Lord, to surrender control of, to relinquish power over, and to trust the Lord with.” Only in Letting Go will our minds, emotions, wills, find rest and cease to struggle and we can guide our children in the ways of their Lord and not ours.

 

It is never too late to repent and turn our hearts to the Lord. Even if our children are adults we can pray for them that they don’t continue to pass the fruit of Good Intentions to their children and grandchildren. Only in depending on Christ, and allowing Him to live His Life through us can our children and children’s children experience life and peace.

 

 Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, for showing me how my Good Intentions can be detrimental to those around me, especially your little ones. Please, Lord, don’t let me hinder the plans You have for my loved ones. Let me know Lord when I am turning to the flesh to help them instead of letting You care for them. AMEN