ThinkstockPhotos-AA047273Perspective.

It is the way we see something.

It’s the compass for our emotions.

It’s the change we sometimes need to get our head and our heart in a better place.

Perspective is something moms need every August as we wrestle with how we view our kids growing up.

So is their start of preschool, their new grades, their movement from one school to the next, their start of college an end or a beginning?

Of course, the answer is these steps of maturity are both an end and a beginning.

Yet, as moms, we usually see them more as an end than a beginning.

If you’re experiencing a new season of school with one or more of your kids, can I lend you my perspective for a moment?  My perspective as a mom of five with my youngest heading back this coming Saturday his second year of college?

New seasons are a beautiful beginning. They are a window into who our children are becoming. They represent accomplishment for us as mothers. They are a reminder that our children are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing…growing up!

When we focus on their growing up as an end, we’re making their next steps all about us. When we focus on their growing up as a beginning, we’re making their next steps all about them.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that shedding a few tears on the first day of preschool, or the first day in a new grade, or when dropping a child off at college is wrong. Those tears represent the joys you’ve experienced with your child and the love you’ve poured into him or her.

Allow yourself to feel the reality of the end. Then, turn your head and view this as a beautiful beginning.

The beginning of new knowledge.

The beginning of new opportunities.

The beginning of discovering new interests.

The beginning of a new way of relating to you.

The beginning of more mature conversations.

The beginning of seeing glimpses of who God has created them to be.

Your ability to see their new seasons as a beginning more than an end gives your kids the freedom to mature and move forward in life. It’s also a gift you give your child and a gift you give yourself.

Our children need us to be excited about their future. They need us to celebrate their next steps. They long for us to embrace the new and let go of the old.

May you and I give the gift of beginning today.

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