Parenting reminds me very much of this picture! You are the horse carrying your family, navigating your way through varied terrain. Sometimes it is easy. Sometimes it feels like you are laboring up hills or skidding down slopes. Sometimes obstacles get in the way or you feel too exhausted and frazzled to keep going. Sometimes you are afraid that if you make a mistake and fall off the path you will lose your way back. Sometimes you feel alone with no-one to share the ride. Many times the path seems to go on and on and ON like it is never going to end.
Take another look at this picture. It struck me as a beautiful shot. I think it tells its own story. It is the beginning of a new adventure, full of promise. The path has been well trodden by others, even if you have not been there before. The grass is soft providing you a soft cushion to land when you fall.
It is easy for parents who have grown children to agree that the parenting adventure was well worth setting out on. We forget the struggles and the insecurity we felt in being parents for the first time. We all say we wouldn't have missed it for the world.
I encourage you to remember this picture and enjoy all the positives and possibilities of parenting. If you need help when you feel you are losing your way, there are many resources around you that can help carry you through. Grab them and keep going. The end is worth more than we can say.
Photo used with permission of Karen Cafe
Written by Sally Burgess
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