Maybe you’ve heard the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child”.  It is often shortened to simply “It takes a village” and the rest is implied.  If you are a parent, grandparent or teacher, you’ve most likely experienced the truth within these words.

Mike and I were so fortunate to have a village in place when our children were born.  Both children were miracles; one through adoption and one through infertility.  Both of these journeys took time, and by the time these two babies blessed our homes, the village elders (grandparents) had been waiting too long and with much enthusiasm!   We had to actually ask the village elders to back off a bit; a pretty wonderful problem to have.

Those grand-parents, along with aunts and uncles and good friends became our village of support.  As the kids grew, so did our village.  Sunday school teachers began to make their imprints upon small hearts and minds. Then, youth group leaders, Wild-Life leaders (so appropriately named for middle schoolers!), Young Life leaders, teachers and coaches, and music teachers and pastors helped guide decisions. Thank goodness, because, during the teenage years, Mom and Dad just didn’t have the right words or enough patience or enough of the “cool” factor.  Whichever it was, we just didn’t have enough!

If you haven’t experienced this yet, hold on. It is coming.   We are relational and need support from others; it’s how we are created.

Even though our children are now married adults, I still ask my tribe to pray for their needs.  And I pray for the other villagers and the needs in their families.  It’s an honor to have friends entrust you with the prayers of those they love most.  How comforting it is to know they are doing the same for your loved ones.

There are a lot of things we didn’t do right.  One of the best things we did do was to grow a beautiful village, full of others who were on similar paths or who had already traveled this parenting path.   The right thing was knowing that we didn’t know it all.

*BTW, I’ll be claiming the cool factor again when grandchildren arrive.