Doing Life Differently

I picked up Luci Swindoll's biography: Doing Life Differently a couple weeks ago and not knowing much about Luci, it has been very interesting. She has done it all: missionary, opera singer, writer, exec for Mobile Oil, etc.

As Luci writes, she tells of growing up in Texas in 1950s and how strained her relationship could be on occasion because she did not follow her mother's and society's views of what "was appropriate" for a girl at that time. You see, Luci did not want to get married and she did not want to have children although she was engaged at one time and loved kids. She just wasn't interested. Never had been. It just was not in God's make up of her dreams.

How easy would it have been for her to just "be a good girl" and do what her mama told her? After all, we rear our kids to be obedient and some of our kids are parent pleasers to the core of their very being. (I personally don't have one of these kind of kids, but I have heard urban legends that they exist.)

If she had ignored the very fiber of who God designed her to be, how different this world would be...and I believe not for the better. She served and still serves the Lord all over the world, being the hands and feet of Jesus to those in need.

So, it is not that hard to begin thinking of my role as parent:
What do I do as mother that imposes or restricts my children's God given design for their lives?
What do I deem appropriate for their future and who am I to make that decision?
And in doing so, how much of God's perfect plan am I trampling on?
How can I support my girls to not just follow God's voice but to run toward it with gusto?