Let Them Jump!

This weekend my 7 year olds tried out for a play. I could not really imagine them making and then performing in this play. They tend to be shy and I figured if they were shy at the audition, then they had very little chance of making it. They were not shy. In fact, Carsen ended up with a main speaking part.

Carsen trying really hard not to be a goofball for a picture

And I learned a bit more about being a dad. Here's what I've felt since they got cast:
Immensely proud. Overwhelmingly scared for them.

What if he can't learn his lines? What if she gets stage fright and can't go on? What if he forgets his lines and is embarrassed? What if...?

Then I stopped as I realized that this is what parenting is. It is leading your child to the edge of something new and exciting and maybe scary and then letting them jump! Shiloh and I will help them get to practices, work with them at home, sit it the audience at performances and encourage them any way we can, but when the time to perform comes, they will walk out on the stage without us. And it is far better that way.

There will be many leaps to lead my kids to in the next two decades of my life. Biking to a friends house, entering art shows, driving, dating, marriage, and more. But I will not be making those jumps. I will have my own jumps to take. The joy as a parent is not in doing these things for them. It's in realizing God has given them the ability to do these things and then watching them jump and do them.

God give me grace to let my 7 year olds jump!