Growing in Grace

By Stacy LaMorte

May is in full-swing!  It is such a beautiful, abundant month filled with first Communions, confirmations, Mother’s Day and graduations (yeah, mom, try to relax in the midst of all of the things you get to plan!)

It is truly a joyous time to watch our children grow and move into new phases of their lives.  Our former pastor used to put it so elegantly when he would pray for the children “to grow in grace and wisdom.”

I try to keep this in mind when I being to feel the pangs of my heart when I want to be sad that one of my children is achieving a milestone and moving on to the next phase of his or her life.  It is bittersweet to see your child leave preschool to move on to grammar school; to leave grammar school to move on to high school; and to leave high school and move on to college trade school or into the working world. But, it is all the natural progression of things.

It is God’s plan.  And the children are growing in and with God’s grace and (hopefully) becoming wiser in God’s plan for them in the process.

We have to have faith that we have done our best to prepare them to succeed in the next phase of their lives and not worry about their future.

We can pray for them to “make good choices” (my children have heard this phrase more times than they can count) and to listen to God’s voice in their lives.  Have faith that they will be growing in grace and wisdom with God’s help.