Roma Downey & Phil Coulter Follow

Your children are your greatest treasure and maybe your least protected.
They are the most demanding of God's creatures and sometimes the least appreciative.
They are an unending source of joy and pain, often in equal measure.
They may drive you to distraction, but come what may, they are the reason you keep battling through day after day.
Because when your journey here is over, they are the only real legacy you will leave behind.

When your child is small, you feel needed. You protect and nurture the child as you would a young sapling.
And as the sapling begins to blossom and grow, much as you admire the sprouting of its branches, you know you must prune them to give direction and strength in the growing.
So too with a child.

When like the tree, your child comes of age, rejoice and let pride fill your cup.
Have no regrets over the passing of time and fear not that the needing is over.
As years roll by, there will be times when he will need your wisdom.
And the strength and support you once gave so freely, at times, you will need from him.
But an undying love is the need that will never fade away.