I Am The Mud

My boys make up there own games.  One of their favorites is called “Wear The Hat.”  It basically consists of Josiah and Matthew finding anything (usually a cardboard box) that they can put on their heads.  They put it on their heads and run around the house yelling “Wear the hat.  Wear the hat.”  They think it’s hilarious! 
 
Last night a new game was invented.  And I LOVE it.  It’s called “Stuck in the Mud.”  In this game I lay on the couch.  I know, you’re thinking “I like this game already.”  Then one of the boys climbs into my arms and I hug them tight.  The boy says “I’m stuck in the mud.”  And I say “I am the mud” and hold them tight.
 
It’s a sweet, silly way to snuggle.  But it got me thinking.  Am I the mud they are stuck in?  Could I become mud they get stuck in?  By holding on to tight could I be holding them back?  Keeping them from from their God given destiny?  If I hold on to tight could they get stuck?  Could I become a stumbling block instead of a stepping stone?
 
Something I heard at the Mom Heart Conference I attended recently really stuck with me.  It was that our children are not ours.  They are Gods.  My sons are not mine.  They are sons of God.  They belong to HIM.  Not me.  

So I must let go sometimes.  I can't be the mud they are stuck in.  Because I don't want them to be stuck.  I want them to soar!

 
Forget about deciding what’s right for each other. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is.
 
Romans 14:13 (The Message)

 
It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
 
Luke 17:2 (NIV)