Heart of the Archer

There is something humbling about realizing how unprepared we truly are when we enter this world.

And with time now behind me, I grow in the fullness of understanding that more deeply than I once could.

Not simply in the sense of growing up and trying to fit into the world around us—or struggling to find our own unique path through it—but in understanding how fragile human life truly begins.

Every soul enters this world with almost nothing. No knowledge. No understanding. No wisdom. No handbook. No answers.

Only the instinct to suck.

That is all we come equipped with.

I remember becoming a mother for the first time and suddenly feeling the weight of that realization. Yes, there was overwhelming beauty in the new world of love I had birthed, a love unlike anything I had ever known before. But alongside that beauty came awareness. Responsibility.

This tiny soul was completely dependent upon me.

So fragile.
So deeply loved.
Loved beyond anything I had ever imagined possible.

And yet, I had no clear answers myself.

No perfect guide.
No certainty.
Only prayers.

Prayers that somehow I would not damage what had been entrusted to me.
Prayers that love itself would help guide my hands when understanding could not.

Because when you love someone more deeply than you ever knew the human heart could love, there is also a weight that comes with it. A sacred responsibility. A realization that raising a life requires something higher than your own understanding.

You begin reaching beyond yourself.

Not only for your own purpose in life, but for theirs.

You carry the responsibility to maintain, sustain, nurture, protect, and guide this life given to you—hoping to bring forth the very most within them, so they may travel as far as an arrow can fly from the hand of the archer.

And perhaps that is what parenthood truly is.

Not control.
Not perfection.
But stewardship.

Holding the bow with trembling hands, praying love guides the aim.