BALDWINSVILLE, N.Y. — It was a long aisle at St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church, as my daughter Kate and I waited before our walk. The memories of the last two decades, and the hope for the future, were front and center.
There is fear of letting go of our children, as the world can be a scary place. The stories of bad things happening increase those fears.
Here in that beautiful Catholic church in New York state, this Baptist from the rural South experienced a peaceful feeling that came over. The letting go of a child doesn’t mean you’re just throwing them into the world. You’re turning them over to our Lord, who guides them according to His perfect will and loves them more than we ever could.
As a lifetime Carroll County resident, I understand Kate will always be a Carroll County native and Baldwinsville is quite a distance from North Carrollton. However, love has no boundaries, and that includes state lines.
As a parent, you want your child to be happy and have a healthy, productive life. That feeling begins at birth and lasts a lifetime for those of all religious denominations.
Looking back on the raising of a child, I thought about those little skinned knees and the encouragement to get back up and keep going. Also the lifetime of politics we shared as a father and daughter, from when she went with me in her car seat, going door to door in North Carrollton during my first campaign for mayor in 2001. The rural settings of her home state gave a political education like nowhere else could that she will have for life. Through the years, she learned that politics and public service should be a noble profession. Whether it’s an elected position or appointed one, the goal is to make for a better place than you found it.
Over the years, there was the Black Hawk political rally, with old-time political speaking and the smell of barbecue chicken cooking. This is where she met Haley Barbour during his first gubernatorial run in 2003, right there in Carroll County. Then the Neshoba County Fair, which turned into more than politics when she met Stacey Pickering and he talked to her about faith and serving our Lord. There were many occasions we shared over the years like these. Those memories helped shape her into the young woman she is today.
Now with that Southern upbringing, my little girl is a New York resident. She will apply those two decades of life in Carroll County to her new community. Her husband, Roman, is a member of the Baldwinsville Town Council. Her passion for politics continues in another state, but yet again those Carroll County roots will always be hers along with our memories. I would be lying if I said there weren’t any tears, but faith made the difference.
God has provided parents with instruction on raising children in the way they should go. The Scriptures state in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go. And even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” When having to let go, it tests a parent’s faith, but in seeing their happiness it makes for a stronger relationship.
The more faith we have in God, the less fearful we are and the more we are willing to turn our children over to Him. That was a comforting feeling to this dad when I did just that at 1 p.m. Eastern Time last Saturday in that Catholic church in Baldwinsville, New York.
• Ken Strachan serves as the mayor of North Carrollton.
