Do you like all aspects of you?
Do you acknowledge each aspect, the struggle AND the beauty?
What about the aspects of others?
Those who experience life differently than you?
Do you take the time to get to know others as they are? Or do you try to change them to fit who you think they are supposed to be?
Last night as I was walking out of a presentation on learning differences, I heard snippets of conversations all around me, parents remarking about their new insights on their kids. So many lightbulbs going off.
And I remembered that feeling…
Here’s the truth:
Parenting is not how I thought it would be.
My kids are not at all how I imagined them to be.
And right now, I am so grateful.
But last night walking among the other parents, I remembered the angst of those years. The angst of not knowing why applying the usual parenting or educator tricks never seemed to work. The angst of wondering if maybe I just wasn’t cut out for this mom thing after all.
I know there are parents like me out there right now having all the same angst while they still try and figure it out. And I feel for each of them.
Turns out, there is not much one can know about their child straight out of the womb…
well except one very beautiful thing…
They, like us, were made in the image and likeness of God.
Sometimes I imagine God looking at me at the moment of their births saying: “Oh girl, you have no idea what’s coming… but don’t worry! It will be everything you never knew you needed.”
My boys all have hearing loss, dyslexia, and ADHD. One also has dysgraphia.
And those things are as much a part of them as their sense of humor, their incredible brotherly bond, their proficiency in math… and so much more.
Right now, they are blessed to be at a school that is teaching them to believe that nothing about them is a mistake.
And they are doing a great job of teaching me that as well…
About them… and myself.
So if you are in an uncertain place trying to figure out your child, a family member, yourself…
I see you.
Trust yourself.
Believe your instincts…
Believe that nothing about you or that person you care about is a mistake.
It’s just another thing to love.
