I'm not who I was

It is a blessing to live close to those who have known you forever. They know all your intricacies and the quirks that make you who you are. They know your past so there's no awkward conversations trying to explain why you are the way you are and how you got this way. Sometimes they don't know how to help you move forward. They remember who you were and see you that way always. They see who you were in those inconvenient growing stages like being a teenager...you know what I mean! I don't know about you, but I'm not who I was then. I don't think the same way or like the same things or make the same choices. I have opinions about things now that I'd never heard of or experienced then. I am still me, but better, and still growing by the magnificent grace of God. As parents we don't want our children to be different than we were or are. We want to live vicariously through them. We want them to make choices different than ours. We want them to live our lives, only better. But our children are not ours. It's not up to us how they live their lives. God's will is infinitely better than what we could even imagine. We have to let go. Push our birdies out of the safe nest and out into whatever God's will holds for them. And we have to respect that we might not always agree with what God has chosen for them or what they feel God is leading them towards.

I wish you could see me now. I wish I could show you how I'm not who I was. Brandon Heath