Broken Plate

Good morning! My heart has been touched quite regularly lately on the issue of tough love and feeling the need to stop enabling wrong behaviors. I have been praying and seeking God in this matter. I have asked, "God, I can't do this on my own. It seems so huge of a decision. What if I make a mistake? What if I'm being too harsh? What if I'm not being harsh enough and actually contributing to the problem? What if......." Yeah, you get the idea. I have been a mess lately with these thoughts. Then this morning I read a few lines from a book. It is entitled, "On the Anvil" by Max Lucado. Here are the lines that spoke to me:

The Day My Plate Was Broken......It was past midnight in Dalton, Georgia, as I stood in a dimly lit phone booth making a call to my folks. My first summer job away from home wasn't planning out as it was supposed to.

The work was hard. My two best friends had quit and gone back to Texas, and I was bunking in the Salvation Army until I could find an apartment. For a big, tough nineteen-year old, I sure felt small.. The voices of my mom and dad had never sounded so sweet. And although I tried to hide it, my loneliness was obvious. I had promised my parents that if they'd let me go, I'd stick it out for the whole summer. But now those three months looked like eternity.

As I explained my plight, I could tell my mom wanted me to come home. But just as she said, "Why don't you come.......," my dad, who was on the extension, interrupted her. "We'd love for you to come back, but we've already broken your plate." (That was west Texas talk for "We love you, Max, but it's time to grow up.")

It takes a wise father to know when to push his son out of the nest. It's painful, but it has to be done. I'll always be thankful that my dad gave me wings and then made me use them.........