Read Proverbs 22:6

Mama bears seem to have no struggle releasing themselves from their cubs. As a matter of fact, in a documentary on television I saw some time ago, because the cubs didn’t leave soon enough, she soon left them to make sure they were finally gone. It was time to separate. Horses watch their little colts bound away and seem not to slump into a depression over the loss of their yearlings. The same is true for rabbits or dogs or, for that matter, even the stately eagle has a way of pushing her eaglets out of the nest and teaching them how to fly and how to make it on their own. They flutter and flap in the process, but they begin to fly!

But human beings, well, if some of us had our way, we’d grip the reins of our kids’ lives to the very last. We would watch our young grow old and wrinkled and grey headed and still not be really thrilled about releasing them from our grip. Sadly, we would have to live with the consequences as well. God has a better way:

Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it. (Proverbs 22:6)

God desires that we rear our children according to their unique gifts and bents until they are ready to be released into the world as confident adults.

How sad to watch a confused, bumbling young adult who has been overindulged and gripped by parents so long he or she has no clear direction in life. They lack security and self-reliance. They lack a sense of confidence and personal determination. And they don’t really know why. Perpetual adolescence is a tragic sight. All they know is that they are not functioning like many of their peers in a way that is fully adult and fully alive.

God has prepared parents to provide instruction and direction for their children so they’re ready—all at God’s appointed time—to be released into the world of adulthood, prepared to support themselves and serve the world for His kingdom. How are you preparing the next generation for adulthood?

Devotional content taken from Good Morning, Lord...Can We Talk? by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved.

The full devotional can be purchased at https://www.tyndale.com/p/good-morning-lord-can-we-talk/9781414380681.