Leaving the Legacy

Jan 24, 2013 by Jim and Jerolyn Bogear

I cradled her precious cheeks with my hands and told her it was time to live her own legacy, the way God designed and desires. We stood there by her car having done all we could in taking our oldest to college some 2200 miles away. It was our way of “handing her off” in life to start her own journey apart from us and as an independent young adult.

That is the goal of parenting, isn’t it? To raise children who go off on their own and live their own life. We often say you have to live a legacy long before you leave a legacy.  We had modeled and invested in those values we chose to instill in her. She was a part of our legacy.

As we stood there with tears streaming down our faces… this was the rite of passage that we really do plan to happen for our kids. It is the way God designed us to be as a family, specifically as parents. To train, mentor, be an example, instill, and love them to become their own person ready to leave the nest and enter into adulthood. Jerolyn and I have tried to parent with the end in mind…parenting may never end, but as far as raising our children, there is a point of “handing them off” to go and live the life they are designed to live. We have tried to teach our kids all we can and then help them to fly on their own.

There we stood together as parent and child, as it had been for these 18 years, and now we were about to experience the relationship change. It has been best and right, although difficult, with each of our children.

We are to invest in them and raise them with the vision and values that we believe are vital for them, and then release them to walk in life. It is important if our kids are still at home to parent them, through love, encouragement, discipline, and care. Then we release them to benefit the world, make a difference, and live their own legacy in life.

How are we as parents doing in raising and then releasing our children to be all God intended?

~Jim and Jerolyn