Parenting and Writing, Faith and Hope

My friend and fellow writer Dorcas shared about her young son's food allergies on her blog, Motherhood in Moving Pictures.

In such times of fear, I can only return to faith. I don't feel adequate to protect my son from fish, nuts, or any other danger that may come his way over the course of his life. And the truth is, even if I tried to protect him from everything, I'm pretty sure I'd drive myself insane doing so.

After reading this, I started thinking of all the ways parenting is like writing. Despite all the work and time you put in, there is no guarantee of success. Somewhere along the journey, your heart will be broken, at least once.

So what can anyone say that is of encouragement to parents? Well, I give you the same encouragement I would give a writer.

1)  You parent simply for the love of your child, as a writer would write simply for the love of writing.

2) You hold onto the joy in the midst of pain and fear. In writing and parenting, there will always be pain and fear, but there will also always be joy.

3) You live in the hope of this amazing person that your child can be, like a writer lives in hope of what he/she will write next.

And really, as Dorcas wrote, "I can only return to faith." Her words say it best:

That's why I have to believe that Someone else is looking out for [my son], Someone with infinite courage and compassion who loves my son even more than I do, Someone who is strong enough to carry our entire family through this.

I am no alone in this. [My son] is not alone in this. And that gives me hope, which is a whole lot better than fear.