Thursday, August 3, 2006

Of Sharks and Daughters


Earlier I wrote about the professional shark feeder who found out the hard way that a shark is a shark is a shark – it cannot be expected to perform any way other than a shark. I applied this to our relationship to our husbands, and how we cannot expect them to act any way other than the way they are made.

Another thing the Lord showed me through this is my changing relationship with my newly married daughter. If you’ve been reading this blog any length of time, you know that my oldest daughter just married the beginning of July, and I found myself out of a dear friend. It is difficult to be only a phone call away, and even sometimes not hear from her for several days. Maybe I’m s bit spoiled or selfish, but I think of her often and miss her greatly.

Since I hadn’t heard from her in several days, I finally called her on Friday and left a message on her machine. Unfortunately, she didn’t return my call, and I actually ended up calling her on Sunday just to make sure she was still alive! Thankfully, she is, and so I am relieved, of course, but a bit irritated just the same.

Now, my memory jogs me a bit, and I remember times when my mother would call me in exasperation, wondering if I had fallen off a cliff or got wrapped around a tree. I would always be surprised that she was so concerned! And now, here I am, in exactly the same shoes.

My dear daughter is starting the adventure of her life – making her own home and starting her own family. It is a very busy, happy time! Her mind is understandably not thinking about us a whole lot.

And that’s where the difficulty lies. She has entered into a new phase of life, and I am not looking at the hard facts. Just as a shark cannot be expected to act like anything other than a shark, so a newly married daughter cannot be expected to act like one who is not. I must love her for who she is, not what I would like her to be.

By the way, I would not want her to be overly attached to me – it would greatly endanger the new relationship with her husband. She needs all the time with him and attention to him that she can muster to be the proper wife. I must love her for who she is.

1 comment:

Kelly said...

A wonderful reminder! Praying that God would allow us to compliment our husbands (not being identical) should be our daily prayer! Thanks for the reminder that we should rejoice in the differences God made in men and women.