Control, Delete

My daughter Lauren never ceases to inspire a good story in me. She has a wit about her and sometimes I’m amazed at the things that come out of her mouth both good and bad.  My son is the quiet one in the family. I have to put my reporter hat on to get any information out of him and what I typically get is one word answers.  I recently joked with my daughter that she wasn’t fulfilling her duty as the snooping younger sister. I asked her if my son had posted anything on snapchat over the weekend because frankly I don’t get the whole snapchat thing.  She begrudgingly took a minute to look on her phone which she is pretty much glued to 99 % of the day.

My son had shared snippets of a party or what appeared to be a party on snapchat. It was dark, there was dancing and Christmas lights, which I guess it’s a thing now to hang Christmas lights year round in your house. There was rap music and I couldn’t really see much. I can’t remember my exact comment, but something to the effect of what the heck.  My daughter replied, “you can’t just hit control, delete mom.  He’s in college he’s going to go to parties. I’ll be doing the same thing. You can’t just erase what you don’t like.” You see in my mind my son is still a sweet, innocent three-year old who in reality is going to be turning 21 next year.

College has coaxed him out of his shell.  I’m extremely proud of how far he has come from the shy, sensitive, quiet little boy I once knew. He is a good and kind person and he is also a college student enjoying the college experience.  I can’t edit my children’s lives and I can’t control them with a remote. They have minds of their own.  I am a part of the story of their life, but they are the co-creators of their life along with God. I read a little book called The Daily Word which shares a blessing for protection for children and that they step out in love, joy and faith to experience and express the infinite goodness of God. That is my hope for my children.

As much as I’d like to think I have a remote control on my children’s lives the truth is I can pause, rewind, play, and even fast forward a bit in my imagination, but not delete. My ultimate goal is to be present and enjoy the moment we are currently in.