Someone I know lost a child recently. The child was grown, but I doubt that made the loss any easier to face. The news hit me the way it always does when I hear that someone is living a parent's worst nightmare: I wanted to grab my own two children and hug them until they squirm.
When our children are small, dependent on us for their very existence, we parents believe we'd do anything -- anything -- to protect them. We might even believe we can protect them from all that life throws at them. But in time we learn there are limits to what we can do.
Sometimes, as they grow to maturity, our children choose paths that put them at risk, a choice we struggle to understand (and perhaps never can). It's a painful reminder that our influence on them has its limits. Still, we keep trying to guide them.
And we keep hoping that, in time, our children will grow to become people who can weather life's storms and live full lives as decent, loving people.
It's a blessing to be able to watch it happen.
Heaven help those who never get the chance.
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