The best thing you can do for your single adult son or daughter is to stop worrying about them. Worry will not solve whatever concerns you have about your single children and it harms your relationship with them. Your attitude about the future of your children reveals what you really believe about the Lord’s heart towards your children. A parent’s trust in the heavenly Father for their children’s well-being is a good gift to them and it will bring to them a sense of security.
Worry is an agitated anxiety about your children’s future that comes from focusing on the immediate circumstances. “Why can’t my daughter find a nice husband?” “Will I ever become a grandmother?” Worry wants a quick fix to the situation, whereas an appropriate perspective takes on a long-range outlook by guiding each child to trust the heavenly Father for a lifetime.
Worry is the sinister cousin of manipulation. Parents need to be careful not to use the language of worry and to avoid sending subliminal messages of worry that could be seen by your children as an attempt to manipulate them. Hints about finding a nice wife or husband and mentioning how your friend has just become a grandparent is not appropriate. Your children will know if you are worried about them.
So very true. I’ve always wondered if people think about what they’re saying. It can plant seeds of discontentment in someone’s life. I know several younger single people who are caused to struggle and become anxious because they are asked when they are going to get married, as though they are supposed to go out and make it happen. Just talked with one person recently. I felt for that person and directed them to your blog for encouragement. Thanks again for helping to balance this area.