Tighten them in your arms and let them go

"Now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which has the power to edify and to give you an inheritance with all the sanctified." Acts 20:32

Parents are ready to give their children all the love and protection they need. But it is often difficult for them to gradually grant them the freedom and independence necessary for entering adulthood. For family ties are strong and complex, whether emotional, psychological or even financial. Love is inseparable from freedom.

Parents feel guilty when their children turn away from the teaching received and decide to lead their own lives. Yet they raised them "according to the rule" of God (Prov. 22: 6) and "under the warnings of the Lord" (Ephesians 6: 4). The father of the prodigal son let his boy go with his share of inheritance (the youngster knew the "rule" of the house). But what did he do during his son's long absence ? He has watched his return by continuing to love him : he has prayed, at every moment, but he has not spared him the consequences of his faults (this is true love). If, for example, one of my children or grandchildren has decided to live with a person of the opposite sex without being married, it is a sin that God calls "fornication." But must I intervene in an authoritarian way ? With an adult child, the role of parents or grandparents is rather to advise and warn, without imposing. The youngster must know that his parents continue to love him, to care for him, even if they do not approve of his conduct.

The most important thing that parents have to do is "let go of the reins", give up to God the direction of their life and that of theirs. When the child is small, they have the impression of mastering everything ; When it grows, it becomes more difficult to control everything. And then one day the young man leaves the house. Parents are obliged to put him in the hands of God and entrust him "to the word of his grace." If he keeps it, it will keep him! But it is an apprenticeship to let God act, to trust Him ; It is better to learn it early. How ? "Do not worry about anything, but in all circumstances, expose your requests to God by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving" (Phil 4: 6).

Source (To pleasing the Lord)