The Pivoting Parent
The Pivoting Parent: Trusting God as Your Children Learn to Soar
Raising children isn’t about keeping them in the nest—it’s about preparing them to soar. Learn how to shift from protecting to empowering, trusting God to guide them as they step into their purpose.
As parents, we carry the weighty responsibility of raising our children into productive adults—ones who love God and find their place in the world to make it better. But if we’re honest, there are times when we watch them struggle and feel like we’ve fallen short. Watching our young adults navigate life can bring us a sense of helplessness and even guilt. Did we teach them enough? Did we prepare them adequately? These questions can fill our hearts with doubt and anxiety.
However, there’s a profound lesson to be learned from birds. A mother bird doesn’t teach her babies how to fly while they sit comfortably in the nest. Instead, her young learn to fly from the ground. It’s not the nest that enables their first flight—it’s their own struggle, effort, and persistence. The mother bird’s responsibility is not to teach the mechanics of flight but to provide nourishment, strength, and the foundation necessary for the bird to take that first leap on their own. As parents, this is a powerful reminder of our true role. Our job isn’t to prevent the struggles of life for our children, nor can we shield them from every fall. Instead, our responsibility is to nourish them—to provide the spiritual, emotional, and practical foundation that will equip them to find their own strength to rise.
This process is deeply challenging. It’s painful to watch our children stumble. Seeing them fall, fail, and try again can tug at our hearts, making us want to swoop in and rescue them. But if we hold them in the safety of the nest too long, they may never learn to stretch their wings. True growth and resilience are birthed not in comfort but in challenge.
The Bible reminds us of this truth in Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Our role as parents is to lay the groundwork—to plant the seeds of God’s Word, to model faith, and to support them in love. The journey they take after that is their own, guided by the foundation we’ve provided and the presence of a faithful God who watches over them.
Isaiah 40:31 paints a beautiful picture of what’s possible when we allow our children to find their strength in God: “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” This soaring is their ultimate goal, but it’s a process. It’s from the ground—not the nest—that they find the strength to take flight and rise to greater heights.
So, what does this mean for us as pivoting parents? It means we must shift our mindset. Instead of measuring success by how smoothly our children’s lives unfold, we focus on our true responsibility: nourishing them with the Word of God, praying fervently for their growth, and providing a safe space of love and encouragement.
It’s hard to let go, but letting go doesn’t mean abandoning them. It means trusting God to guide their steps, even when they falter. Philippians 1:6 offers this assurance: “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” The same God who began a good work in us as parents is also working in our children.
Parents, take heart. Though the falls may be painful to watch, and the struggle feels long, remember this: every stumble on the ground brings your child closer to the day they will soar. They are learning to move from survival mode to thriving mode. As you nourish them, support them, and entrust them to God’s care, you will see the fruit of your faithfulness in due season.
Keep praying. Keep loving. Keep nourishing. And when the time comes, you’ll see the beauty of their flight—soaring to heights you never imagined.
In God’s grace and timing, they’ll rise. And so will you.
