Every day I will praise You!

Psalm 145:1 "I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. 2 Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. 3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. 4 One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts."

Every day I feel more and more like I'm at a crossroads. Friday, my youngest child turned 18 years old. I overheard a friend tell my son, "now you don't have to do what they tell you to do or eat their food any more" (believe it or not it was a friend my age, not his). So, needless to say, I feel less and less "needed" these days. I know many of you can identify with me, and for those who don't know yet, there will come a day when you have a lot of feelings to deal with. Feelings you've never had to confront before. It will probably be a few years before my kids "need" me again. You know, they're 23, 20, and 18. They're in that stage where "they know it all". Now my daughter would be hurt to hear me say that. It's not so much that she "knows it all", but right now - she's got it all together. She's almost finished with college and knows what she wants to do next. We've grown into that "friendship" stage more than her needing me to mother her.

Oh hummmm....after dedicating 20 or so years of my life to mothering, I'm pretty much retiring. And mothering I did. Three in 5 years, and when my youngest started school, things turned around to where I started homeschooling all three of them. They have consumed my every thought and most of my energy.

But you know what? I've decided to dwell on what I have, not what I have not. I have 3 kids that are becoming independent and sufficient on their own. That's good! And while I don't do the same things at home, church, or work that I did just five years ago, I'm going to try to be faithful in what God has given me at this point in my life. I'm not done (not by a long shot), but my "realm of influence" has certainly changed. This morning before I got out of bed, I started listing the people and activities in my life. I'm going to write it down and put it in my Bible and work at being faithful with all those God has put in my life right now. But mostly, I'm not going to look a week, month, or year down the road. I'm going to strive for a day's worth of faithfulness. I'm going to "commend God's works to the next generation" whenever I get a chance. And I'm going to try my best to show people that God is faithful at every stage of life. Even at the crossroads!